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 1269

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Charles L. Halliday

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

4 April 1914

William Herbert Thomas
Marie Evelyn Hannett

William Herbert Thomas
Katie Evelyn Hannett
💍 1914/643

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

32
25

Feilding
Feilding

3 years
25 years

Methodist Church Manchester St Feilding

2534

4 April 1914

Rev. P. W. Jones

No	16
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Thomas	Marie Evelyn Hannett
BDM Match (95%)	William Herbert Thomas	Katie Evelyn Hannett
	💍 1914/643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Manchester St Feilding
Folio	2534
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones

4 April 1914

Henry McKarnon
Edith Mary Foster

Henry McLarnon
Edith Mary Foster
💍 1914/5671

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith

34
21

Feilding
Marton

9 years
marton

Presbyterian Church Marton

3082

4 April 1914

Rev. Alexander Porter

No	17
Date of Notice	4 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry McKarnon	Edith Mary Foster
BDM Match (96%)	Henry McLarnon	Edith Mary Foster
	💍 1914/5671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Marton
Length of Residence	9 years	marton
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Marton
Folio	3082
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alexander Porter

6 April 1914

Arthur George Barnett
Doris Ingram Gould

Arthur George Barnett
Doris Ingram Gould
💍 1914/638

Bachelor
Spinster

Treasurer Wellington Harbour Board

30
21

Wellington
Feilding

3 days
9 years

Residence of Benjamin Gould North Road Feilding

2529

6 April 1914

Revd J Murray

No	18
Date of Notice	6 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Barnett	Doris Ingram Gould
	💍 1914/638
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Treasurer Wellington Harbour Board
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Benjamin Gould North Road Feilding
Folio	2529
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Revd J Murray

7 April 1914

William Vickerstaff
Sarah Woodland Savage

William Vickerstaff
Sarah Woodland Savage
💍 1914/6259

Bachelor
Spinster

Tilemaker

54
45

Carterton
Carterton

2 weeks
2 weeks

Church of England Feilding

3802

7 April 1914

Rev A S Innes Jones

No	19
Date of Notice	7 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Vickerstaff	Sarah Woodland Savage
	💍 1914/6259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tilemaker
Age	54	45
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Feilding
Folio	3802
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A S Innes Jones

13 April 1914

Alexander Henderson Laing
Elizabeth Waldin

Alexander Henderson Laing
Elizabeth Waldin
💍 1914/640

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller

26
24

Taumarunui
Colyton

3 days
18 years

Presbyterian Church Feilding

2531

13 April 1914

Rev. Geo Budd

No	20
Date of Notice	13 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Henderson Laing	Elizabeth Waldin
	💍 1914/640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Colyton
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	2531
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

13 April 1914

James Keith Laird
Mary Jane Old

James Keith Laird
Mary Jane Old
💍 1914/639

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
20

Waverley
Feilding

3 days
18 months

Presbyterian Church Feilding

2530

William Old Father

13 April 1914

Rev. Geo Budd

No	21
Date of Notice	13 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Keith Laird	Mary Jane Old
	💍 1914/639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Feilding
Folio	2530
Consent	William Old Father
Date of Certificate	13 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo Budd

25 April 1914

Wordsworth Brown Benson
Edith Orlandra Bowden

Wordsworth Brown Benson
Edith Orlandra Bowden
💍 1914/6266

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Expert
Domestic Duties

25
24

Feilding
Feilding

5 years
7 years

St John's Church of England Feilding

3803

25 April 1914

Rev A S Innes Jones

No	22
Date of Notice	25 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wordsworth Brown Benson	Edith Orlandra Bowden
	💍 1914/6266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Expert	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England Feilding
Folio	3803
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A S Innes Jones

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).