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 378

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar P. V. Neill

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 May 1914

Melville Sim Edwards
Emily Helen Jones

Melville Sim Edwards
Emily Helen James
💍 1914/834

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic Duties

23
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay

4299

6 May 1914

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	6 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Melville Sim Edwards	Emily Helen Jones
BDM Match (94%)	Melville Sim Edwards	Emily Helen James
	💍 1914/834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Folio	4299
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

13 May 1914

Arthur John Devery
Elizabeth Nicholson

Arthur John Devery
Elizabeth Nicholson
💍 1914/9055

Arthur John Powell
Mary Isabella Nicholson
💍 1915/8692

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Postmistress

32
24

Matawai, Poverty Bay
Matawai

22 years
11 years

The Roman Catholic Church, Makauri

4101

13 May 1914

Rev. John B. Carran, Roman Catholic Minister

No	82
Date of Notice	13 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Devery	Elizabeth Nicholson
	💍 1914/9055
BDM Match (64%)	Arthur John Powell	Mary Isabella Nicholson
	💍 1915/8692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Postmistress
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Matawai, Poverty Bay	Matawai
Length of Residence	22 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The Roman Catholic Church, Makauri
Folio	4101
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John B. Carran, Roman Catholic Minister

19 May 1914

Frederick Goodall
Retia Jane Rose Roberts

Frederick Goodall
Reta Jane Rose Roberts
💍 1914/833

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

41
28

Gisborne
Hoangaroa

5 years
6 months

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4298

19 May 1914

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	83
Date of Notice	19 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Goodall	Retia Jane Rose Roberts
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Goodall	Reta Jane Rose Roberts
	💍 1914/833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Hoangaroa
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4298
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

23 May 1914

Thomas Henry Harrian
Evangeline Victoria Livia Haughie

Thomas Henry Haisman
Evanlyne Victoria Nina Haughie
💍 1914/9028

Widower
Spinster

Builder
Tailoress

38
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

25 years
9 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4097

23 May 1914

Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

No	84
Date of Notice	23 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Harrian	Evangeline Victoria Livia Haughie
BDM Match (83%)	Thomas Henry Haisman	Evanlyne Victoria Nina Haughie
	💍 1914/9028
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Tailoress
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	4097
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Golden, Roman Catholic Minister

23 May 1914

John MacDonald
Catherine Hoall Forsyth

John MacDonald
Catherine Hall Forsyth
💍 1914/5979

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
18 months

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

3540

23 May 1914

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	85
Date of Notice	23 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John MacDonald	Catherine Hoall Forsyth
BDM Match (98%)	John MacDonald	Catherine Hall Forsyth
	💍 1914/5979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	3540
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).