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 1309

District of Levin Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar W. C. Nation

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

199

10 January 1914

Robert George Staveley
Nora Elizabeth Smith

Robert George Staveley
Norah Elizabeth Smith
💍 1914/821

Matthew George Waddell
Amy Elizabeth Smith
💍 1914/4875

Bachelor (Divorced)
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic service

25
33

Levin
Levin

Four years
Nine months

Registrar's Office, Levin

4287

14 January 1914

Tom Brown, Deputy Registrar

No	199
Date of Notice	10 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert George Staveley	Nora Elizabeth Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Robert George Staveley	Norah Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1914/821
BDM Match (60%)	Matthew George Waddell	Amy Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1914/4875
Condition	Bachelor (Divorced)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic service
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Four years	Nine months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Levin
Folio	4287
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Tom Brown, Deputy Registrar

200

26 January 1914

John Meads
Isabella Roach

John Meads
Isabella Roach
💍 1914/820

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

50
30

Levin
Ohau

Fifteen years
Thirty years

Registrar's Office, Levin

4286

26 January 1914

W. C. Nation, Registrar

No	200
Date of Notice	26 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Meads	Isabella Roach
	💍 1914/820
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Levin	Ohau
Length of Residence	Fifteen years	Thirty years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Levin
Folio	4286
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1914
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation, Registrar

201

19 February 1914

Donald Richard Robinson
Olive Violet Colville

Donald Richard Robinson
Olive Violet Colville
💍 1914/9126

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

25
19

Manakau
Manakau

Three years
Nineteen years

Residence of Mr W. C. Nation, Levin

4221

William Colville, father

22 February 1914

W. C. Nation, Minister

No	201
Date of Notice	19 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Richard Robinson	Olive Violet Colville
	💍 1914/9126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Manakau	Manakau
Length of Residence	Three years	Nineteen years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. C. Nation, Levin
Folio	4221
Consent	William Colville, father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1914
Officiating Minister	W. C. Nation, Minister

202

23 February 1914

Stanley Neil Hutton
Amy Millicent Remington

Stanley Neil Hutton
Amy Millicent Remington
💍 1914/7323

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial traveller
Music teacher

26
22

Wellington
Levin

Six years

Residence of Mr F. C. Remington, Levin

1160

28 February 1914

Rev A. C. Randerson, Minister

No	202
Date of Notice	23 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Neil Hutton	Amy Millicent Remington
	💍 1914/7323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial traveller	Music teacher
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Levin
Length of Residence		Six years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr F. C. Remington, Levin
Folio	1160
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev A. C. Randerson, Minister

204

27 February 1914

Leslie Ryder Nation
Mary Thompson Winter

Leslie Ryder Nation
Mary Thompson Winter
💍 1914/7324

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotypist
Home duties

25
19

Levin
Levin

Five years
Eleven years

Anglican Church, Levin

1161

William Winter

27 February 1914

Rev H. T. Stealey, Minister

No	204
Date of Notice	27 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Ryder Nation	Mary Thompson Winter
	💍 1914/7324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotypist	Home duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	Five years	Eleven years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Levin
Folio	1161
Consent	William Winter
Date of Certificate	27 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev H. T. Stealey, Minister

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).