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 1479

District of Taihape Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Owens

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

305

14 January 1914

Peter Munro
Mary McNeill

Peter Munro
Mary McNeill
💍 1914/7376

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household

27
30

Te Kapua
Taihape

18 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Taihape

14/1238

17 January 1914

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	305
Date of Notice	14 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Munro	Mary McNeill
	💍 1914/7376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Te Kapua	Taihape
Length of Residence	18 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taihape
Folio	14/1238
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

306

4 February 1914

James Edward Hurley
Gladys Martha Holt

James Edward Hurley
Gladys Martha Holt
💍 1914/7377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household

24
19

Pohonui
Pohonui

15 years
3 years

St Mary's Church Taihape

14/1239

Edmund Holt, Father

4 February 1914

Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	306
Date of Notice	4 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Hurley	Gladys Martha Holt
	💍 1914/7377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Pohonui	Pohonui
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Taihape
Folio	14/1239
Consent	Edmund Holt, Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

307

21 February 1914

Thomas Mischewski
Myrtle Louisa Lee

Thomas Mischewski
Myrtle Louisa Lee
💍 1914/9138

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household

23
19

Winiata
Winiata

7 years
7 years

The Registrar's Office Taihape

14/4226

Thomas A. J. Lee, Father

21 February 1914

J. S. Aldridge, Registrar

No	307
Date of Notice	21 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mischewski	Myrtle Louisa Lee
	💍 1914/9138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Winiata	Winiata
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Registrar's Office Taihape
Folio	14/4226
Consent	Thomas A. J. Lee, Father
Date of Certificate	21 February 1914
Officiating Minister	J. S. Aldridge, Registrar

308

5 February 1914

Archibald Joseph Peterken
Louisa Madeline Bryant

Archibald Joseph Peterken
Louisa Madeline Bryant
💍 1914/93

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

33
28

Fielding
Ashburton

1 1/2 years
26 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Taihape

14/1240

5 February 1914

Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	308
Date of Notice	5 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Joseph Peterken	Louisa Madeline Bryant
	💍 1914/93
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Fielding	Ashburton
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Taihape
Folio	14/1240
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

309

14 February 1914

James O'Connor
Theresa Murphy

James O'Connor
Theresa Murphy
💍 1914/7379

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
28

Dannevirke
Mataroa

3 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church Mataroa

14/1241

14 February 1914

Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

No	309
Date of Notice	14 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Connor	Theresa Murphy
	💍 1914/7379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Mataroa
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Mataroa
Folio	14/1241
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Connolly, Roman Catholic

310

14 February 1914

Sidney Horace Horan Abell
Alice Laura Wall

Sidney Horace Abell
Alice Laura Wall
💍 1914/7380

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Milliner

24
25

Auckland
Taihape

4 Days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church Taihape

14/1242

14 February 1914

Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	310
Date of Notice	14 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Horace Horan Abell	Alice Laura Wall
BDM Match (88%)	Sidney Horace Abell	Alice Laura Wall
	💍 1914/7380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Milliner
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 Days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Taihape
Folio	14/1242
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

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).