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 1379

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Daniel O'Rourke

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

10 January 1914

John Fitzgerald
Catherine Johanna Bourke

John Fitzgerald
Catherine Johanna Quirk
💍 1914/7345

John Fitzgerald
Nellie Shanahan
💍 1914/549

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

27
26

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua

1187

10 January 1914

Rev. E. Long

No	1
Date of Notice	10 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fitzgerald	Catherine Johanna Bourke
BDM Match (92%)	John Fitzgerald	Catherine Johanna Quirk
	💍 1914/7345
BDM Match (65%)	John Fitzgerald	Nellie Shanahan
	💍 1914/549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1187
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Long

19 January 1914

Edward Charles Pearcey
Blanche Hall

Edward Charles Pearcey
Blanche Hall
💍 1914/7346

Bachelor
Spinster

Cab driver
Domestic Servant

24
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

24 years
11 years

Methodist Church, Pahiatua

1188

Newman Hall, Father

19 January 1914

Rev. R. Richards

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Pearcey	Blanche Hall
	💍 1914/7346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cab driver	Domestic Servant
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	24 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1188
Consent	Newman Hall, Father
Date of Certificate	19 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards

21 January 1914

Henry William Thomson
Ida Bessie Gelderd

Henry William Thomson
Ida Bessie Gelderd
💍 1914/7327

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Tailoress

26
19

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
2 weeks

Residence of George Frederick Gelderd, Pahiatua

1189

George Frederick Gelderd, Father

21 January 1914

Rev. M. Bawden Harris

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Thomson	Ida Bessie Gelderd
	💍 1914/7327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Tailoress
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of George Frederick Gelderd, Pahiatua
Folio	1189
Consent	George Frederick Gelderd, Father
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Bawden Harris

4 February 1914

James John Allan Starford
Agnes Campbell

James John Allan Harford
Agnes Campbell
💍 1914/7338

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Duties

39
26

Pahiatua
Palmerston North

17 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs Hesketh, Whariti, Featherston Street East, Palmerston North

1199

4 February 1914

Rev. A. S. Macdonald Aspland

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Allan Starford	Agnes Campbell
BDM Match (96%)	James John Allan Harford	Agnes Campbell
	💍 1914/7338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	17 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hesketh, Whariti, Featherston Street East, Palmerston North
Folio	1199
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. S. Macdonald Aspland

12 February 1914

Alfred Ballance Croad
Catherine Teresa Fair

Wilfred Ballance Croad
Catherine Teresa Fair
💍 1914/7328

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Mangahao
Mangahao

23 years
18 days

St. Peters Church, Pahiatua

1190

12 February 1914

Rev. R. H. Trill

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Ballance Croad	Catherine Teresa Fair
BDM Match (95%)	Wilfred Ballance Croad	Catherine Teresa Fair
	💍 1914/7328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Mangahao	Mangahao
Length of Residence	23 years	18 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1190
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Trill

2 March 1914

Arthur Innes
Annie Elizabeth Jensen

Arthur Nunns
Annie Elizabeth Jensen
💍 1914/7329

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Musician

22
21

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

22 years
5 weeks

St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua

1191

2 March 1914

Rev. M. Bawden Harris

No	6
Date of Notice	2 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Innes	Annie Elizabeth Jensen
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Nunns	Annie Elizabeth Jensen
	💍 1914/7329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Musician
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	22 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1191
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Bawden Harris

24 March 1914

Thomas James Burgess
Mary Chalmers

Thomas James Burgess
Mary Chalmers
💍 1914/6549

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
21

Kaitawa
Pahiatua

25 years
10 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Pahiatua

349

24 March 1914

The Registrar, Pahiatua

No	7
Date of Notice	24 March 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Burgess	Mary Chalmers
	💍 1914/6549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Kaitawa	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	25 years	10 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Pahiatua
Folio	349
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1914
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Pahiatua

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).