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 837

District of Tokatoka Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar Herbert Leabourn

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

Basil Vernon Rope
Henrietta Finlayson

Basil Vernon Rope
Henrietta Finlayson
💍 1914/3650

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright

27
21

Te Kopuru
Ruawai

27 years
6 months

Ruawai Church, Ruawai

7554

5 October 1914

Rev. F. Latter

No	12
Date of Notice	5 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Vernon Rope	Henrietta Finlayson
	💍 1914/3650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Ruawai
Length of Residence	27 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Ruawai Church, Ruawai
Folio	7554
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter

14 October 1914

Hamilton Rowan Bradley
Lena Smith

Hamilton Rowan Bradley
Lena Smith
💍 1914/5157

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
21

Arapohue
Arapohue

33 years
21 years

"Westwood" residence of W. J. Smith

9033

13 October 1914

Rev. A. B. Haynes

No	13
Date of Notice	14 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hamilton Rowan Bradley	Lena Smith
	💍 1914/5157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Arapohue	Arapohue
Length of Residence	33 years	21 years
Marriage Place	"Westwood" residence of W. J. Smith
Folio	9033
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Haynes

14 October 1914

Henry Wilfied Hordstrum
Venorah Breach

Henry Wilfred Nordstrum
Yruth Janeeve Venorah Breach
💍 1914/3649

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

42
38

Aratapu
Aratapu

7 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Te Kopuru

7553

14 October 1914

H. Leabourn, Regr.

No	14
Date of Notice	14 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Wilfied Hordstrum	Venorah Breach
BDM Match (71%)	Henry Wilfred Nordstrum	Yruth Janeeve Venorah Breach
	💍 1914/3649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Aratapu	Aratapu
Length of Residence	7 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Te Kopuru
Folio	7553
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1914
Officiating Minister	H. Leabourn, Regr.

26 October 1914

Thomas Matthew Bussett
Frances Annie Bussett

Thomas Mather
Frances Annie Barrett
💍 1914/3652

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Waitress

30
21

Te Kopuru
Te Kopuru

9 months
9 months

Anglican Church

7555

26 October 1914

Rev. F. Latter

No	15
Date of Notice	26 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Matthew Bussett	Frances Annie Bussett
BDM Match (70%)	Thomas Mather	Frances Annie Barrett
	💍 1914/3652
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Waitress
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Te Kopuru
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	7555
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter

16 December 1914

Arthur Ernest Charles Bevan
Annie Grace Phillips

Arthur Ernest Charles Bevan
Annie Grace Phillips
💍 1914/3648

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Tailoress

28
21

Te Kopuru
Te Kopuru

16 months
14 days

Residence of James Phillips

7552

20 December 1914

Rev. W. H. Speer

No	16
Date of Notice	16 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Charles Bevan	Annie Grace Phillips
	💍 1914/3648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Tailoress
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Te Kopuru
Length of Residence	16 months	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of James Phillips
Folio	7552
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer

21 December 1914

Henry Lappin Wallins
Lillian May Smith

Henry Lappin
Lillian May Smith
💍 1914/5124

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Nurse

35
31

Te Kopuru
Goroa

10 years
31 years

Residence of Isaac Wallins, Dayaville

9000

21 December 1914

Rev. W. H. Speer

No	17
Date of Notice	21 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Lappin Wallins	Lillian May Smith
BDM Match (80%)	Henry Lappin	Lillian May Smith
	💍 1914/5124
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Nurse
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Te Kopuru	Goroa
Length of Residence	10 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Isaac Wallins, Dayaville
Folio	9000
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer

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).