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 146

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar Suepant

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

886

13 July 1914

Charles Samuel Edwards
Ellen Dorothy Reen

Charles Samuel Edwards
Ellen Dorothy Keen
💍 1914/2218

Bachelor
Spinster

Maker

28
24

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
1 year

Home of Bride's Father, Summer Rd.

5917

13 July 1914

Re D. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	886
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Samuel Edwards	Ellen Dorothy Reen
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Samuel Edwards	Ellen Dorothy Keen
	💍 1914/2218
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Maker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Home of Bride's Father, Summer Rd.
Folio	5917
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Re D. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

887

13 July 1914

Arthur Leonard Watson
Eliza Jane Ann Phillips

Arthur Leonard Watson
Eliza Jane Ann Phillipps
💍 1914/2213

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant

31
55

Auckland
Auckland

10 years
3 months

Home of Bride's Sister, Princes St. A.

5912

13 July 1914

Re P. H. Laws, Methodist

No	887
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leonard Watson	Eliza Jane Ann Phillips
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Leonard Watson	Eliza Jane Ann Phillipps
	💍 1914/2213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant
Age	31	55
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Home of Bride's Sister, Princes St. A.
Folio	5912
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Re P. H. Laws, Methodist

888

13 July 1914

Thomas Henry White
Esther Mary Dillon

Thomas Henry White
Esther Mary Dillon
💍 1914/1181

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
38

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
from childhood

Registrar's Office

4875

13 July 1914

Registrar

No	888
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry White	Esther Mary Dillon
	💍 1914/1181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	from childhood
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4875
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Registrar

889

13 July 1914

James Charles McCarthy
Daisy Miriam McDonnell

James Charles McCarthy
Daisy Miriam O'Donnell
💍 1914/5159

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk, N.Z.R.

32
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
1 year 2 months

St. Benedict's Church

9051

13 July 1914

R. P. H. Pillan, Roman Catholic

No	889
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles McCarthy	Daisy Miriam McDonnell
BDM Match (95%)	James Charles McCarthy	Daisy Miriam O'Donnell
	💍 1914/5159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk, N.Z.R.
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year 2 months
Marriage Place	St. Benedict's Church
Folio	9051
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	R. P. H. Pillan, Roman Catholic

890

13 July 1914

Alfred Edwin Jackson
Elizabeth Ann Epedin

Alfred Edgar Dillon
Elizabeth Ann Elliott
💍 1914/9043

Married, not heard of wife for over seven years
Spinster

Confectioner

40
35

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
2 1/2 years

Registrar's Office

4876

13 July 1914

Registrar

No	890
Date of Notice	13 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edwin Jackson	Elizabeth Ann Epedin
BDM Match (66%)	Alfred Edgar Dillon	Elizabeth Ann Elliott
	💍 1914/9043
Condition	Married, not heard of wife for over seven years	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4876
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1914
Officiating Minister	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).