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 1035

District of Unknown Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Jas. T. W. Collier

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 January 1914

Norman Denford Jones
Amy Josephine Lawrence

Norman Denford Jones
Amy Josephine Lawrence
💍 1914/6854

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

23
22

Waitara
Waitara

3 days
22 years

Wesleyan Church

685

5 January 1914

Rev. J. W. Griffin

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Denford Jones	Amy Josephine Lawrence
	💍 1914/6854
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church
Folio	685
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin

2 February 1914

Charles Patrick Crowley
Ethel Maud Crow

Charles Patrick Crowley
Ethel Maud Crow
💍 1914/6863

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
19

Waitara
Waitara

3 days
Life

Registrar's Office

694

Marion Jones, Mother

2 February 1914

James T. W. Collier, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Patrick Crowley	Ethel Maud Crow
	💍 1914/6863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	694
Consent	Marion Jones, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	James T. W. Collier, Registrar

2 March 1914

Richard Newman Smith
Ena Payne

Richard Newman Smith
Ena Payne
💍 1914/6865

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Waitara
Waitara

5 years
6 months

Registrar's Office

695

2 March 1914

James T. W. Collier, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Newman Smith	Ena Payne
	💍 1914/6865
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	695
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	James T. W. Collier, Registrar

23 March 1914

Herbert Hollis Bennett
Lillian Maud Jennett

Herbert Hollins
Lillian Maud Bennett
💍 1914/6855

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Farm Duties

34
26

Te Arei
Te Arei

3 days
Life

Residence of Bride's Father

686

Father

23 March 1914

Rev. J. W. Griffin

No	4
Date of Notice	23 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hollis Bennett	Lillian Maud Jennett
BDM Match (79%)	Herbert Hollins	Lillian Maud Bennett
	💍 1914/6855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Farm Duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Te Arei	Te Arei
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Father
Folio	686
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	23 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin

25 March 1914

Leonard Bertie Langman
Mary Mabel Cleave

Leonard Bertie Langman
Mary Isabel Cleave
💍 1914/6866

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Household Duties

23
19

Waitara
Waitara

3 months
5 months

Registrar's Office

696

Richard Cleave, Father

25 March 1914

James T. W. Collier, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	25 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Bertie Langman	Mary Mabel Cleave
BDM Match (94%)	Leonard Bertie Langman	Mary Isabel Cleave
	💍 1914/6866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Household Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	696
Consent	Richard Cleave, Father
Date of Certificate	25 March 1914
Officiating Minister	James T. W. Collier, Registrar

28 March 1914

William Donald McDonald
Louise Alice Ross

William Donald Douglas McDonald
Louise Alice Ross
💍 1914/829

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

29
29

O Kohe
O Kohe

6 years
5 years

Church, England

4295

28 March 1914

Rev. C. F. R. Harrison

No	6
Date of Notice	28 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donald McDonald	Louise Alice Ross
BDM Match (87%)	William Donald Douglas McDonald	Louise Alice Ross
	💍 1914/829
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	O Kohe	O Kohe
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church, England
Folio	4295
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. R. Harrison

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).