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 436

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar L. C. Seator

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

17 December 1914

Henry Thomas Nicholls
Mabel Maude Moore

Henry Thomas Nicholls
Mabel Maud Moore
💍 1914/5403

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

25
25

Te Rapa
Te Rapa

1½ years
1 month

St Peters Church, Hamilton

14/9315

17 December 1914

Rev. E. M. Cowie, Church of England

No	86
Date of Notice	17 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Nicholls	Mabel Maude Moore
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Thomas Nicholls	Mabel Maud Moore
	💍 1914/5403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Te Rapa	Te Rapa
Length of Residence	1½ years	1 month
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Hamilton
Folio	14/9315
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Cowie, Church of England

21 December 1914

Edgar Walter Porter
Mary Ellen Henderson

Edgar Walter Porter
Mary Ellen Henderson
💍 1914/3492

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

25
27

Hamilton
Frankton Junction

3 days
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

14/7397

21 December 1914

Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

No	87
Date of Notice	21 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Walter Porter	Mary Ellen Henderson
	💍 1914/3492
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	14/7397
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

22 December 1914

James William Dodd
Hilda Rebecca Lown

James William Dodd
Hilda Rebecca Lourn
💍 1914/3488

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

26
19

Hamilton
Hamilton

1 week
1 week

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

14/7393

Henry Lown, Father

22 December 1914

L. C. Seator, Registrar

No	88
Date of Notice	22 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Dodd	Hilda Rebecca Lown
BDM Match (95%)	James William Dodd	Hilda Rebecca Lourn
	💍 1914/3488
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton
Folio	14/7393
Consent	Henry Lown, Father
Date of Certificate	22 December 1914
Officiating Minister	L. C. Seator, Registrar

29 December 1914

John Augustus Kelly
Brenda Edith Stevens

John Augustus Kelly
Brenda Edith Stevens
💍 1914/4016

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic Duties

27
24

Hamilton
Hamilton East

1 week
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

14/7926

29 December 1914

Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

No	89
Date of Notice	29 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Augustus Kelly	Brenda Edith Stevens
	💍 1914/4016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	1 week	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	14/7926
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

29 December 1914

Randolph Walter Park
Ivy Holt

Randolph Walter Park
Ivy Holt
💍 1914/3489

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
19

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
4 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton

14/7394

John William Turnbull, Stepfather

29 December 1914

L. C. Seator, Registrar

No	90
Date of Notice	29 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Randolph Walter Park	Ivy Holt
	💍 1914/3489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Hamilton
Folio	14/7394
Consent	John William Turnbull, Stepfather
Date of Certificate	29 December 1914
Officiating Minister	L. C. Seator, Registrar

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).