Intentions to Marry, 1914 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840454, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1914 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki (1914a), Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1914b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1914c).

Page 771

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar J. Hollywood

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

28 October 1914

Augustus Arthur Garvey
Sarah Hursel Wood

Augustus Arthur Garvey
Sarah Hurst Wood
💍 1914/3661

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typist

35
21

Te Aroha West
Te Aroha West

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church Te Aroha

14/7541

28 October 1914

Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	28 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Arthur Garvey	Sarah Hursel Wood
BDM Match (94%)	Augustus Arthur Garvey	Sarah Hurst Wood
	💍 1914/3661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typist
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha West	Te Aroha West
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te Aroha
Folio	14/7541
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

29 October 1914

Louis John Conning
Susan Pears

Louis John Conning
Susan Paris
💍 1914/3659

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Servant

22
19

Waihou
Waihou

12 years
2 years

Private residence of Mr. M. Conning Waihou

14/7539

Eli Pears, Father of Bride

29 October 1914

Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	29 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis John Conning	Susan Pears
BDM Match (91%)	Louis John Conning	Susan Paris
	💍 1914/3659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. M. Conning Waihou
Folio	14/7539
Consent	Eli Pears, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	29 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

14 November 1914

Joseph McKee
Hettie Evelyn Witton

Joseph McKee
Hettie Evelyn Witton
💍 1914/3660

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

Private residence of A. McKee Te Aroha

14/7540

14 November 1914

Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	14 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph McKee	Hettie Evelyn Witton
	💍 1914/3660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of A. McKee Te Aroha
Folio	14/7540
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

24 November 1914

John David Mackay
Doris Mary Dixon

John David MacKay
Doris Mary Dixon
💍 1914/3658

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
20

Waihou
Waihou

7 years
3 years

Private Residence of Robert Dixon Waihou

14/7538

Robert Dixon, Father of Bride

24 November 1914

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	24 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John David Mackay	Doris Mary Dixon
BDM Match (97%)	John David MacKay	Doris Mary Dixon
	💍 1914/3658
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Robert Dixon Waihou
Folio	14/7538
Consent	Robert Dixon, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	24 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

9 December 1914

Marshall Bryce Blake
Ivy Jane Watt Mackie

Marshall Bryce Blake
Ivy Jane Watt MacKie
💍 1914/3651

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

28
23

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church Te Aroha

14/7537

9 December 1914

Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	9 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marshall Bryce Blake	Ivy Jane Watt Mackie
BDM Match (98%)	Marshall Bryce Blake	Ivy Jane Watt MacKie
	💍 1914/3651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te Aroha
Folio	14/7537
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

15 December 1914

Cecil Rolfe Sherley
Dorothy Ann Hawkins

Cecil Rolfe Sherley
Ivy Myrtle Ann Hawkins
💍 1914/3640

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Morrinsville
Waiorongomai

9 years
20 years

Church of England Te Aroha

14/7536

Fanny Harriet Trainer, Mother of Bride

15 December 1914

James Coldham Fussell, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	15 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Rolfe Sherley	Dorothy Ann Hawkins
BDM Match (80%)	Cecil Rolfe Sherley	Ivy Myrtle Ann Hawkins
	💍 1914/3640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Waiorongomai
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Te Aroha
Folio	14/7536
Consent	Fanny Harriet Trainer, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	15 December 1914
Officiating Minister	James Coldham Fussell, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).