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 955

District of Kaponga Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar B. Leonard

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

3 April 1914

James Phillips
Minnie Dawbin

James Phillips
Minnie Dawbin
💍 1914/3064

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
20

Mangatoki
Mangatoki

18 years
3 days

Union Church, Mangatoki

14/6887

Robert Coasts Dawbin, Father of the Bride

3 April 1914

Rev. Frank W. Robertson

No	3
Date of Notice	3 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Phillips	Minnie Dawbin
	💍 1914/3064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Mangatoki	Mangatoki
Length of Residence	18 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Union Church, Mangatoki
Folio	14/6887
Consent	Robert Coasts Dawbin, Father of the Bride
Date of Certificate	3 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Frank W. Robertson

20 April 1914

Percy William Allen
Margaret Hark

Percy William Allen
Margaret Hart
💍 1914/8572

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

32
31

Kaponga
Kaponga

13 years
1 1/2 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kaponga

14/2341

20 April 1914

Mr. Charles Alexander Stewart

No	4
Date of Notice	20 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Allen	Margaret Hark
BDM Match (96%)	Percy William Allen	Margaret Hart
	💍 1914/8572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Kaponga
Length of Residence	13 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kaponga
Folio	14/2341
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr. Charles Alexander Stewart

26 May 1914

Hugh Johnson McCarty
Ivy Wilson Robinson

Hugh Johnson McCarthy
Ivy Helen Robinson
💍 1914/8574

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Music Teacher

20
22

Kaponga
Kaponga

9 years
3 days

St. John's Methodist Church, Kaponga

14/2344

Christina Bullock, Mother

26 May 1914

Rev. F. Rando

No	5
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Johnson McCarty	Ivy Wilson Robinson
BDM Match (87%)	Hugh Johnson McCarthy	Ivy Helen Robinson
	💍 1914/8574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Music Teacher
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Kaponga
Length of Residence	9 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Kaponga
Folio	14/2344
Consent	Christina Bullock, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Rando

26 May 1914

Walter Barker
Ida Elizabeth Slade

Walter Barker
Ida Elizabeth Stade
💍 1914/2907

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachdriver
Domestic Duties

29 years
20 years

Kaponga
Mangatoki

6 days
20 years

Union Church, Mangatoki

14/6751

Frank Andrew Slade, Father

26 May 1914

Rev. P. M. Dent

No	6
Date of Notice	26 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Barker	Ida Elizabeth Slade
BDM Match (97%)	Walter Barker	Ida Elizabeth Stade
	💍 1914/2907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachdriver	Domestic Duties
Age	29 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Mangatoki
Length of Residence	6 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Union Church, Mangatoki
Folio	14/6751
Consent	Frank Andrew Slade, Father
Date of Certificate	26 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. M. Dent

28 May 1914

Joseph Godfrey Short
Annabella Kirk Duff

Joseph Godfrey Short
Annabella Kirk Duff
💍 1914/8641

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35 years
26 years

Kaponga
Auroa

3 days
2 years

Methodist Church, Auroa

14/2386

28 May 1914

Rev. N. H. Howes

No	7
Date of Notice	28 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Godfrey Short	Annabella Kirk Duff
	💍 1914/8641
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35 years	26 years
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Auroa
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Auroa
Folio	14/2386
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. H. Howes

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).