Intentions to Marry, 1914 Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840455, 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 1175

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Robert Archibald Bayliffe

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 January 1914

Thomas Richard Porter
Leah Hapurangi Pirangi

Thomas Richard Porter
Teao Kapurangi Pirangi
💍 1914/7036

Widower
Widow

Real Estate Agent
Nil

43
26

Mohaka
Mohaka

3 months
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wairoa

768

6 January 1914

R. A. Bayliffe, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Porter	Leah Hapurangi Pirangi
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Richard Porter	Teao Kapurangi Pirangi
	💍 1914/7036
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Real Estate Agent	Nil
Age	43	26
Dwelling Place	Mohaka	Mohaka
Length of Residence	3 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wairoa
Folio	768
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1914
Officiating Minister	R. A. Bayliffe, Registrar

28 January 1914

Richard George Deighton
Letitia Lambert

Richard George Deighton
Letitia Lambert
💍 1914/7035

Widower
Spinster

Settler
Dressmaker

61
40

Wairoa
Wairoa

40 years
23 years

Thos Lambert's Residence, Wairoa

767

28 January 1914

Rev. J. Simkin, Wairoa

No	2
Date of Notice	28 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard George Deighton	Letitia Lambert
	💍 1914/7035
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Dressmaker
Age	61	40
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	40 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Thos Lambert's Residence, Wairoa
Folio	767
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Simkin, Wairoa

5 March 1914

George William Haraing
Maria Eliza Thompson

George William Harding
Maria Eliza Thomson
💍 1914/7034

Widower
Widow

Smith & Fitter
Domestic

57
56

Wairoa
Wairoa

1 year
40 years

Church of England, Wairoa

766

5 March 1914

Rev. W. J. Simkin, Wairoa

No	3
Date of Notice	5 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Haraing	Maria Eliza Thompson
BDM Match (95%)	George William Harding	Maria Eliza Thomson
	💍 1914/7034
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Smith & Fitter	Domestic
Age	57	56
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	1 year	40 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wairoa
Folio	766
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Simkin, Wairoa

17 March 1914

John Gordon
Annie Middleton

John Gordon
Annie Middleton
💍 1914/7039

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Servant

33
30

Wairoa
Frasertown

7 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Wairoa

770

17 March 1914

Rev. W. Raeburn, Wairoa

No	4
Date of Notice	17 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon	Annie Middleton
	💍 1914/7039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Servant
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Frasertown
Length of Residence	7 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wairoa
Folio	770
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Raeburn, Wairoa

24 March 1914

William Henry Nevill Green
Fanny Couper

William Henry Nevill Green
Pansy Couper
💍 1914/7040

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Servant

24
21

Mohaka
Frasertown

1 month
Life

Donald Couper's Residence, Frasertown

771

24 March 1914

Rev. Wm Raeburn, Wairoa

No	5
Date of Notice	24 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Nevill Green	Fanny Couper
BDM Match (92%)	William Henry Nevill Green	Pansy Couper
	💍 1914/7040
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Servant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Mohaka	Frasertown
Length of Residence	1 month	Life
Marriage Place	Donald Couper's Residence, Frasertown
Folio	771
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Raeburn, Wairoa

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).