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 812

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar William H Potto

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

9 November 1914

Einar Thorwald Hoffgand Haugard
Louisa Elizabeth Hansen

Eniar Thirvald Hoffgard Haugard
Louise Elizabeth Hansen
💍 1914/3437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
45

Thames
Thames

3 days
45 years

In the house of John E Hansen, Mount Pleasant

7259

9 November 1914

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	66
Date of Notice	9 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Einar Thorwald Hoffgand Haugard	Louisa Elizabeth Hansen
BDM Match (90%)	Eniar Thirvald Hoffgard Haugard	Louise Elizabeth Hansen
	💍 1914/3437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	45
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	45 years
Marriage Place	In the house of John E Hansen, Mount Pleasant
Folio	7259
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

16 November 1914

Walter Snow Dovell
Elizabeth Hazel Dennerly

Walter Snow Dovell
Elizabeth Hazel Dennerly
💍 1914/3448

Bachelor
Spinster

Gasfitter
Domestic duties

24
18

Thames
Thames

24 years
18 years

Church of England, MacRay Street, Thames

7260

William Lang Dennerly (Father)

16 November 1914

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	16 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Snow Dovell	Elizabeth Hazel Dennerly
	💍 1914/3448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gasfitter	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, MacRay Street, Thames
Folio	7260
Consent	William Lang Dennerly (Father)
Date of Certificate	16 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

21 November 1914

Benjamin Matthew Finlay
Stella Grigg

Benjamin Matthew Finlay
Stella Grigg
💍 1914/3457

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Employee
School Teacher

26
23

Frankton
Thames

2 months

Baptist Church, Thames

7263

21 November 1914

Rev H Wallace, Baptist

No	68
Date of Notice	21 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Matthew Finlay	Stella Grigg
	💍 1914/3457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Employee	School Teacher
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Frankton	Thames
Length of Residence		2 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	7263
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H Wallace, Baptist

23 November 1914

Harold George Rafferty
Ethel May Burrett

Harold George Rafferty
Ethel May Burrett
💍 1914/3459

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Machinist

26
26

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames

7265

25 November 1914

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	69
Date of Notice	23 November 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold George Rafferty	Ethel May Burrett
	💍 1914/3459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Machinist
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	7265
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

1 December 1914

Albert Henry Alley
Rubina Myrtle Avery

Albert Henry Alley
Rubina Myrtle Avery
💍 1914/3458

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
24

Hi Rutara
Hi Rutara

28 years
11 years

Church of England, Hi Rutara

7264

1 December 1914

Rev J F Cowie, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	1 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Alley	Rubina Myrtle Avery
	💍 1914/3458
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hi Rutara	Hi Rutara
Length of Residence	28 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hi Rutara
Folio	7264
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J F Cowie, Church of England

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).