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 811

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar William Henry Poth

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

5 October 1914

Edwin Robertson Gibbons
Ellen Maud Smith

Edwin Robertson Gibbons
Ellen Maud Smith
💍 1914/3439

Widower
Widow

Engineer
Domestic duties

41
40

Thames
Kopu

3 days
10 years

In the house of Mr E. Elliot, Omahu

14/7269

5 October 1914

Rev H. C. Orchard, Methodist

No	61
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Robertson Gibbons	Ellen Maud Smith
	💍 1914/3439
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Kopu
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr E. Elliot, Omahu
Folio	14/7269
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. C. Orchard, Methodist

5 October 1914

George Wade
Edith Marion Williams

George Wade
Edith Marion Williams
💍 1914/3461

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

41
41

Thames
Thames

5 days
16 years

In the house of Mr J. William, Mary Street, Thames

14/7267

5 October 1914

Rev G. W. J. Spence, Methodist

No	62
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wade	Edith Marion Williams
	💍 1914/3461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	16 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. William, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	14/7267
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. J. Spence, Methodist

19 October 1914

John Wesley McDonald Millett
Pearlie Eleanor Lawrence

John Wesley McDonald Willetts
Pearlie Eleanor Lawrence
💍 1914/3379

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
20

Thames
Thames

24 years
4 years

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

14/7258

Alfred Dines Lawrence (Father)

19 October 1914

William H. Poth, Registrar

No	63
Date of Notice	19 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wesley McDonald Millett	Pearlie Eleanor Lawrence
BDM Match (97%)	John Wesley McDonald Willetts	Pearlie Eleanor Lawrence
	💍 1914/3379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	14/7258
Consent	Alfred Dines Lawrence (Father)
Date of Certificate	19 October 1914
Officiating Minister	William H. Poth, Registrar

27 October 1914

William Badley
Agnes Reed Meredith

William Badley
Agnes Reed Meredith
💍 1914/3438

Bachelor
Widow

Farm Manager
Domestic duties

50
39

Piako
Thames

6 months
8 years

In the Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames

14/7268

27 October 1914

Rev G. W. J. Spence, Methodist

No	64
Date of Notice	27 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Badley	Agnes Reed Meredith
	💍 1914/3438
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic duties
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Piako	Thames
Length of Residence	6 months	8 years
Marriage Place	In the Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	14/7268
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. J. Spence, Methodist

4 November 1914

Thomas Michael Reday
Annie Cargill

Thomas Michael Reddy
Annie Cargill
💍 1914/3460

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

22
16

Thames
Thames

7 months
16 years

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

14/7266

Robert William Cargill (Father)

6 November 1914

William H. Poth, Registrar

No	65
Date of Notice	4 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Michael Reday	Annie Cargill
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Michael Reddy	Annie Cargill
	💍 1914/3460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 months	16 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	14/7266
Consent	Robert William Cargill (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 November 1914
Officiating Minister	William H. Poth, Registrar

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).