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 807

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

1 July 1914

Thorley Robbins
Ellen Winifred Wylie

Thorley Robbins
Ellen Winifred Wylie
💍 1914/1644

Bachelor
Spinster

Underman
School teacher

29
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

In the house of Mrs A. & H. Wylie, Pollen Street, Thames

14/5239

1 July 1914

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	1 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thorley Robbins	Ellen Winifred Wylie
	💍 1914/1644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Underman	School teacher
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs A. & H. Wylie, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	14/5239
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

13 July 1914

William Bane
Emma Georgina West

William Bane
Emma Georgina West
💍 1914/1645

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Household Duties

48
44

Thames
Thames

40 years
44 years

At the residence of Mr John West, Cochrane Street, Thames

14/5240

13 July 1914

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bane	Emma Georgina West
	💍 1914/1645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Household Duties
Age	48	44
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	40 years	44 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr John West, Cochrane Street, Thames
Folio	14/5240
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

16 July 1914

Samil Matkovich
Agnes Mabel Pennell

Samil Matkovich
Agnes Mabel Pennell
💍 1914/1539

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
26

Thames
Thames

4 months
3 weeks

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

14/5251

16 July 1914

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	16 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samil Matkovich	Agnes Mabel Pennell
	💍 1914/1539
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	14/5251
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1914
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

18 July 1914

Ivo Bertram Harris
Sarah Annie Devenea Dalgety

Ivo Bertram Harris
Sarah Annie Devenea Dalgety
💍 1914/1646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
23

Pipiroa
Pipiroa

3 years
4 years

In the house of Mr W. Dalgety, Pipiroa

14/5241

18 July 1914

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	18 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivo Bertram Harris	Sarah Annie Devenea Dalgety
	💍 1914/1646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Pipiroa	Pipiroa
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W. Dalgety, Pipiroa
Folio	14/5241
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

25 July 1914

Walter Moore
Nellie Thomas

Walter Moore
Nellie Thomas
💍 1914/1550

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

29
21

Thames
Matatoki

2 days
5 months

Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

14/5252

27 July 1914

Mr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	25 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Moore	Nellie Thomas
	💍 1914/1550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Matatoki
Length of Residence	2 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	14/5252
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr O'Callaghan, Church of England

27 July 1914

Robert James Smith
Caroline Lily Challis

Robert James Smith
Caroline Lily Challis
💍 1914/1560

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Shop assistant

21
20

Thames
Thames

21 years
20 years

In St John's Anglican Church, Tararu, Thames

14/5256

Frederick Challis (Father)

27 July 1914

Mr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	27 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert James Smith	Caroline Lily Challis
	💍 1914/1560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Shop assistant
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In St John's Anglican Church, Tararu, Thames
Folio	14/5256
Consent	Frederick Challis (Father)
Date of Certificate	27 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr 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).