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 380

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar H. S. Hille

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

2 June 1914

Ronald Victor Somerwell
Clara Weatherooke

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
25

Gisborne
Mangapapa, Poverty Bay

4 years
4 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3052

2 June 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	91
Date of Notice	2 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Victor Somerwell	Clara Weatherooke
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Mangapapa, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3052
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4 June 1914

Alfred James Skilton
Martha Jean Stephenson

Alfred James Skilton
Martha Jean Stephenson
💍 1914/9026

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

26
20

Te Karaka
Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

7 months
3 years

Church of England, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

4095

George Hobson Stephenson, father

4 June 1914

Rev. Geo. Norman Welham Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

No	92
Date of Notice	4 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Skilton	Martha Jean Stephenson
	💍 1914/9026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka	Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Folio	4095
Consent	George Hobson Stephenson, father
Date of Certificate	4 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Norman Welham Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

8 June 1914

Alexander Brodie
Jeannie Russell

Alexander Brodie
Jeannie Russell
💍 1914/5980

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
General Servant

27
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
8 months

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

3541

8 June 1914

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	93
Date of Notice	8 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Brodie	Jeannie Russell
	💍 1914/5980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	General Servant
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	3541
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

10 June 1914

William Leslie Bailey
Ellen Campbell Agnew

William Leslie Bailey
Ellen Campbell Agnew
💍 1914/5507

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

21
24

Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

4 days
4 days

The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

3062

10 June 1914

Rev. Robert Raine, Methodist Minister

No	94
Date of Notice	10 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Bailey	Ellen Campbell Agnew
	💍 1914/5507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	3062
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine, Methodist Minister

9 June 1914

Frank Albert McIroy
Hineawe Taitapumui

Frank Albert McIlroy
Hineawe Taitapunui
💍 1914/5522

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

24
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

16 months
All life

The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3053

9 June 1914

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	95
Date of Notice	9 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Albert McIroy	Hineawe Taitapumui
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Albert McIlroy	Hineawe Taitapunui
	💍 1914/5522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	16 months	All life
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3053
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).