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 899

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar P. J. A. Pica

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

20 July 1914

Philip Ace
Anne Hobes

Philip Ace
Anne Nobes
💍 1914/1592

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

15 months
2 years

Registrars Office Whangarei

5288

20 July 1914

Rev. Guy Thornton, Baptist

No	20
Date of Notice	20 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Ace	Anne Hobes
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Ace	Anne Nobes
	💍 1914/1592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whangarei
Folio	5288
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Guy Thornton, Baptist

21 July 1914

Alfred Gilbert Cole
Margaret Elsie Bradley

Alfred Gilbert Cole
Margaret Elsie Bradley
💍 1914/1607

Bachelor
Spinster

Locomotive Driver
Domestic Duties

29
26

Kamo
Whangarei

3 days
2 years

Registrars Office Whangarei

5278

21 July 1914

B. J. A. Pica, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	21 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Gilbert Cole	Margaret Elsie Bradley
	💍 1914/1607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Locomotive Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whangarei
Folio	5278
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1914
Officiating Minister	B. J. A. Pica, Registrar

22 July 1914

Albert Wiblin
Ethel Mennie Gunson

Albert Wiblin
Ethel Minnie Gunson
💍 1914/1596

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
25

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
13 months

Methodist Church Whangarei

5292

22 July 1914

Rev. H. Lavell, Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	22 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Wiblin	Ethel Mennie Gunson
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Wiblin	Ethel Minnie Gunson
	💍 1914/1596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	13 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Whangarei
Folio	5292
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Lavell, Methodist

9 July 1914

Lewis Morfett
Elizabeth Mary Coward

Lewis Morfelt
Elizabeth Mary Coward
💍 1914/1597

Bachelor
Spinster

Bush Contractor
Domestic Duties

26
27

Whangarei
Whangarei

20 years
27 years

Ohaika Church, Ohaika

5293

9 July 1914

Rev. H. Favell, Anglican

No	23
Date of Notice	9 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Morfett	Elizabeth Mary Coward
BDM Match (96%)	Lewis Morfelt	Elizabeth Mary Coward
	💍 1914/1597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bush Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	20 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Ohaika Church, Ohaika
Folio	5293
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Favell, Anglican

11 July 1914

George Henry Costa
Janet Crang Sterling

George Henry Costar
Janet Craig Stirling
💍 1914/1606

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Whangarei

5279

11 July 1914

B. J. A. Pica, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	11 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Costa	Janet Crang Sterling
BDM Match (92%)	George Henry Costar	Janet Craig Stirling
	💍 1914/1606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Whangarei
Folio	5279
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1914
Officiating Minister	B. J. A. Pica, 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).