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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Thomas Culpan

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

148

9 February 1914

Leonard George Harris Webb
Ruby Isabella Valentine Erickson

Leonard George Harris Webb
Ruby Isabella Valentine Erickson
💍 1914/9350

Bachelor
Spinster

Compositor

21
19

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
5 years

St. Paul's Church

14/4344

Lillian Beatrice Horer formerly Erickson, mother

9 February 1914

Rev. C. A. B. Watson

No	148
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard George Harris Webb	Ruby Isabella Valentine Erickson
	💍 1914/9350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compositor
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church
Folio	14/4344
Consent	Lillian Beatrice Horer formerly Erickson, mother
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. B. Watson

149

9 February 1914

Gilbert William Chapman
Elsie Caroline Oldham

Gilbert William Chapman
Elsie Caroline Oldham
💍 1914/6735

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

22
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
4 years

House of Bride's Father, New Windsor Road, Avondale

14/591

9 February 1914

Rev. R. R. Gosnell

No	149
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert William Chapman	Elsie Caroline Oldham
	💍 1914/6735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	House of Bride's Father, New Windsor Road, Avondale
Folio	14/591
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Gosnell

150

9 February 1914

George Edgar Smith
Elizabeth May Briggs

George Edgar Smith
Elizabeth May Briggs
💍 1914/6622

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine-driver

31
18

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
4 days

Pitt Street Methodist Church

14/499

John William Briggs, Father

9 February 1914

Rev. W. Ready

No	150
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edgar Smith	Elizabeth May Briggs
	💍 1914/6622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine-driver
Age	31	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Pitt Street Methodist Church
Folio	14/499
Consent	John William Briggs, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready

151

9 February 1914

Ernest Bedford
Elizabeth Ethel Alder

Ernest Bedford
Elizabeth Ethel Alder
💍 1914/6594

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner

28
22

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
8 years

St. Patrick's Cathedral

14/402

9 February 1914

Rev. W. J. Ormond

No	151
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bedford	Elizabeth Ethel Alder
	💍 1914/6594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Cathedral
Folio	14/402
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Ormond

152

9 February 1914

Lewis Owen Morris
Vera Muriel Millen

Lewis Owen Morris
Vera Muriel Millen
💍 1914/6803

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

23
17

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
Life

St. James Presbyterian Manse

14/500

Robert Millen, Father

9 February 1914

Rev. R. L. Walker

No	152
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Owen Morris	Vera Muriel Millen
	💍 1914/6803
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Manse
Folio	14/500
Consent	Robert Millen, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker

153

9 February 1914

Fredrick George Blackburn
Esther Elizabeth Leatham

Frederick George Blackburn
Esther Elizabeth Leatham
💍 1914/2548

Bachelor
Spinster

Coachbuilder

33
25

Auckland
Auckland

Life
3 years

Church of the Epiphany

14/6277

3 November 1914

Rev. G. H. Morse

No	153
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fredrick George Blackburn	Esther Elizabeth Leatham
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick George Blackburn	Esther Elizabeth Leatham
	💍 1914/2548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coachbuilder
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Epiphany
Folio	14/6277
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Morse

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).