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 1609

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar Joseph Lissant Palethorpe

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

326

9 April 1914

John Henry Freeman
Elsie May Elizabeth Adair

John Henry Freeman
Elsie May Elizabeth Adair
💍 1914/8404

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser

37
27

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
4 weeks

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

2080

9 April 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	326
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Freeman	Elsie May Elizabeth Adair
	💍 1914/8404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	2080
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

327

9 April 1914

Andrew George Gustave Talbot
Mary Kissane

Andrew George Sustane Talbot
Mary Kissane
💍 1914/8390

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 months

St Joseph's Church, Wellington

2034

9 April 1914

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	327
Date of Notice	9 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew George Gustave Talbot	Mary Kissane
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew George Sustane Talbot	Mary Kissane
	💍 1914/8390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	2034
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

328

14 April 1914

David Thompson
Olive Evelyn King

David Thompson
Olive Evelyn King
💍 1914/8551

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone Linesman

25
19

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. W. J. King, 3 Riddiford Street, Wellington

2277

William Thomas King, father

14 April 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	328
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thompson	Olive Evelyn King
	💍 1914/8551
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone Linesman
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. J. King, 3 Riddiford Street, Wellington
Folio	2277
Consent	William Thomas King, father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

329

14 April 1914

Joseph Robinson
Alice Louisa Seager

Joseph Robinson
Alice Louisa Seager
💍 1914/8418

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

22
21

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

3 days
21 years

St Peter & St Paul's Church, Lower Hutt

2112

14 April 1914

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	329
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Robinson	Alice Louisa Seager
	💍 1914/8418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St Peter & St Paul's Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	2112
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

330

14 April 1914

Cecil Henry Blinkard
Margaret Jessie Gray

Cecil Henry Clinhard
Margaret Tessier Gray
💍 1914/8438

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
22 years

Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington

2108

14 April 1914

Mr. H. O. Johnston

No	330
Date of Notice	14 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Henry Blinkard	Margaret Jessie Gray
BDM Match (90%)	Cecil Henry Clinhard	Margaret Tessier Gray
	💍 1914/8438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	2108
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. O. Johnston

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).