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 801

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

7 April 1914

George Henry Davies
Annie May Burk

George Henry Davies
Annie May Burk
💍 1914/8554

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

22
19

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames

2297

Bridget Cecilia Burk (Mother)

8 April 1914

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	7 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Davies	Annie May Burk
	💍 1914/8554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	2297
Consent	Bridget Cecilia Burk (Mother)
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

7 April 1914

Ernest Feltus Adams
Ellen Mary Blake

Ernest Feltus Adams
Ellen Mary Clare
💍 1914/8854

Widower
Widow

Mining Engineer
Domestic duties

48
49

Thames
Thames

25 years
12 years

In the house of Mr J. W. Hall, Queen Street, Thames

2904

7 April 1914

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	7 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Feltus Adams	Ellen Mary Blake
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Feltus Adams	Ellen Mary Clare
	💍 1914/8854
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Mining Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	48	49
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. W. Hall, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	2904
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

8 April 1914

Daniel MacKay
Alice Murphy

Daniel MacKay
Alice Murphy
💍 1914/7842

Widower
Spinster

Accountant
Typist

39
31

Thames
Hamilton

4 years
4 years

In the house of Mr Moffatt, Hamilton

2458

8 April 1914

Rev. A. Gow, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel MacKay	Alice Murphy
	💍 1914/7842
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Typist
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Moffatt, Hamilton
Folio	2458
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Gow, Presbyterian

9 April 1914

William Edward Heale
Margaret Isabel Plummer

William Edward Hale
Margaret Isabel Plummer
💍 1914/7844

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
24

Matatoki
Tapu

31 years
24 years

In the house of Mr P. A. Plummer, Tapu

2905

9 April 1914

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Heale	Margaret Isabel Plummer
BDM Match (98%)	William Edward Hale	Margaret Isabel Plummer
	💍 1914/7844
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Tapu
Length of Residence	31 years	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr P. A. Plummer, Tapu
Folio	2905
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

11 April 1914

Lewis Arthur Duffield
Isabella Mellett

Lewis Arthur Duffield
Isabella Mellett
💍 1914/8626

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Milliner

35
31

Thames
Thames

5 years
31 years

In the house of Mrs Mellett, Pollen Street, Thames

2302

11 April 1914

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	11 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Arthur Duffield	Isabella Mellett
	💍 1914/8626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Milliner
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	31 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Mellett, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	2302
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

11 April 1914

William Ernest Ewart
Greta Elsie Bennett

William Ernest Ewart
Freta Elvin Bennett
💍 1914/8638

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Domestic duties

23
24

Thames
Thames

2 days
3 months

Church of England, Tararu, Thames

2308

13 April 1914

Dr. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	11 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Ewart	Greta Elsie Bennett
BDM Match (92%)	William Ernest Ewart	Freta Elvin Bennett
	💍 1914/8638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tararu, Thames
Folio	2308
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr. O'Callaghan, 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).