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 1391

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar C. Ashworth

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

29 January 1914

Walter James
Evelyn May Trevilian Oliver

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

31
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
4 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North

1197

29 January 1914

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	29 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James	Evelyn May Trevilian Oliver
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1197
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1914
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

2 February 1914

Thomas William Thwaites
Mary Annie Corti Vannini

Thomas William Thwaites
Mary Annie Corti Vannini
💍 1914/8305

Bachelor
Spinster

Lineman
Domestic Duties

30
23

Palmerston North
16 Kilbirnie South, Wellington

9 months
18 months

Roman Catholic Church, South Kilbirnie, Wellington

1920

2 February 1914

J. Herring, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Thwaites	Mary Annie Corti Vannini
	💍 1914/8305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	16 Kilbirnie South, Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, South Kilbirnie, Wellington
Folio	1920
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	J. Herring, Roman Catholic

2 February 1914

James John Allan Harford
Agnes Campbell

James John Allan Harford
Agnes Campbell
💍 1914/7338

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic Duties

39
36

Pahiatua
Palmerston North

17 years
5 years

Residence of Mrs Hesketh, Wharepai, Featherston St., Palmerston North

1199

2 February 1914

A. M. Aspland, Congregationalist

No	13
Date of Notice	2 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James John Allan Harford	Agnes Campbell
	💍 1914/7338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	17 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Hesketh, Wharepai, Featherston St., Palmerston North
Folio	1199
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1914
Officiating Minister	A. M. Aspland, Congregationalist

9 February 1914

James Upchurch
Maria Clapham

James Upchurch
Maria Clapham
💍 1914/6506

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

60
65

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

282

9 February 1914

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Upchurch	Maria Clapham
	💍 1914/6506
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	60	65
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	282
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

12 February 1914

Caleb Charles Browning
Maude Strawbridge

Caleb Charles Browning
Maude Strawbridge
💍 1914/7356

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
5 years

Residence of E. J. Strawbridge, 150 Rangitikei Street, Palmerston North

1218

12 February 1914

F. W. Boys, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	12 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Caleb Charles Browning	Maude Strawbridge
	💍 1914/7356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of E. J. Strawbridge, 150 Rangitikei Street, Palmerston North
Folio	1218
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1914
Officiating Minister	F. W. Boys, Methodist

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).