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 798

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar William Henry Potts

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

6 February 1914

Robert Harrison
Fanny Matilda Abbott

Robert Harrison
Fanny Matilda Abbott
💍 1914/7147

Widower (June 1907)
Widow (29 January 1913)

Miner
Domestic duties

48
39

Thames
Thames

1 day
2 years

In the house of Mrs Abbott, Pollen Street, Thames

880

9 February 1914

Rev G.W.J. Spence, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harrison	Fanny Matilda Abbott
	💍 1914/7147
Condition	Widower (June 1907)	Widow (29 January 1913)
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	48	39
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Abbott, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	880
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev G.W.J. Spence, Methodist

12 February 1914

Patrick Joseph O'Shea
Effie Eileen Wood

Patrick Joseph O'Shea
Effie Eileen Wood
💍 1914/7144

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Housemaid

24
21

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

877

14 February 1914

Rev J.J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	12 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Joseph O'Shea	Effie Eileen Wood
	💍 1914/7144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Housemaid
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	877
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J.J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

18 February 1914

Harold Edward Nixon
Lilias Davidson McLean

Harold Edward Nixon
Lilian Davidson McLean
💍 1914/7371

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic duties

27
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

1209

18 February 1914

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	18 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Nixon	Lilias Davidson McLean
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Edward Nixon	Lilian Davidson McLean
	💍 1914/7371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	1209
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

23 February 1914

Edward Thomas Rees
Mabel Sanders Macmillan

Edward Thomas Rees
Mabel Sanders MacMillan
💍 1914/583

Bachelor
Widow (9 May 1912)

Accountant
Domestic duties

31
34

Thames
Thames

6 weeks
6 weeks

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

274

23 February 1914

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Thomas Rees	Mabel Sanders Macmillan
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Thomas Rees	Mabel Sanders MacMillan
	💍 1914/583
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (9 May 1912)
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	274
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1914
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

7 March 1914

Percy Strong
Bertha Agnes Horbe

Percy Strong
Bertha Agnes Howe
💍 1914/7146

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

25
19

Thames
Thames

25 years
19 years

St George's Church, Mackay Street, Thames

879

Alfred Lowe, father

7 March 1914

Dr D. O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	7 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Strong	Bertha Agnes Horbe
BDM Match (94%)	Percy Strong	Bertha Agnes Howe
	💍 1914/7146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Mackay Street, Thames
Folio	879
Consent	Alfred Lowe, father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Dr D. O'Callaghan, 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).