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 901

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar [illegible]

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

12 August 1914

Hermann Ernest Kouger
Daisy Margaret Kouger

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic

20
22

Kara
Whangarei

6 months
12 months

Whangarei Presbyterian Church

5283

12 August 1914

Rev. W. Bay, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	12 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hermann Ernest Kouger	Daisy Margaret Kouger
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Kara	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Whangarei Presbyterian Church
Folio	5283
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Bay, Presbyterian

11 August 1914

John Richard Smith
Anne Elizabeth Manley

John Richard Smith
Annie Elizabeth Manley
💍 1914/1594

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

23
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 years
3 days

Church of England, Whangarei

5290

Emily Jane Manley, mother

17 August 1914

Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	11 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Smith	Anne Elizabeth Manley
BDM Match (98%)	John Richard Smith	Annie Elizabeth Manley
	💍 1914/1594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	5290
Consent	Emily Jane Manley, mother
Date of Certificate	17 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

20 August 1914

Harold Maurice Land
Elsie May Preece

Harold Maurice Lord
Elsie May Preece
💍 1914/1591

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
21

Ruatangata
Whangarei

13 years
3 years

Church of England, Whangarei

5287

20 August 1914

Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	20 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Maurice Land	Elsie May Preece
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Maurice Lord	Elsie May Preece
	💍 1914/1591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Whangarei
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	5287
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

31 August 1914

Job Walter Sykes
Margaret Anne Waymouth

Job Walter Sykes
Margaret Annie Waymouth
💍 1914/1600

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
19

Whangarei
Kauri

6 weeks
3 weeks

Residence of J. W. Sykes, Whangarei

5277

William Albert Waymouth, father

31 August 1914

Rev. H. Daniels, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	31 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Job Walter Sykes	Margaret Anne Waymouth
BDM Match (98%)	Job Walter Sykes	Margaret Annie Waymouth
	💍 1914/1600
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Kauri
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of J. W. Sykes, Whangarei
Folio	5277
Consent	William Albert Waymouth, father
Date of Certificate	31 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Daniels, Methodist

7 September 1914

John Cecil Thompson
Winifred Alice Slatters

John Cecil Thompson
Winifred Alice Slatter
💍 1914/1590

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

20
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 years
19 years

Church of England, Whangarei

5286

William John Slatters, father

7 September 1914

Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

No	34
Date of Notice	7 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cecil Thompson	Winifred Alice Slatters
BDM Match (98%)	John Cecil Thompson	Winifred Alice Slatter
	💍 1914/1590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	5286
Consent	William John Slatters, father
Date of Certificate	7 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Favell, Anglican

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).