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 1617

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

366

22 April 1914

John Joseph O'Donnell
Catherine Mary Manning

John Joseph O'Connell
Catherine Mary Manning
💍 1914/5892

Bachelor
Spinster

Post Office Messenger

30
25

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
1 month

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

14/3328

22 April 1914

Rev. P. Regnault

No	366
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph O'Donnell	Catherine Mary Manning
BDM Match (98%)	John Joseph O'Connell	Catherine Mary Manning
	💍 1914/5892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Post Office Messenger
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	1 month
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	14/3328
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Regnault

367

22 April 1914

Henry Dearnley
Jessie Wood Ralph

Henry Dearnley
Jessie Wood Ralph
💍 1914/8415

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

15 months
3 years

Residence of Rev. G. K. Smith, 21 Hankey Street, Wellington

14/2101

22 April 1914

Rev. G. K. Smith

No	367
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dearnley	Jessie Wood Ralph
	💍 1914/8415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	15 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. K. Smith, 21 Hankey Street, Wellington
Folio	14/2101
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Smith

368

22 April 1914

Walter Henry Lunn
Alice Jane Taylor

Walter Henry Lunn
Alice Jane Taylor
💍 1914/8409

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

31
39

Wellington
Wellington

31 years
14 years

Residence of Mrs Taylor, 84 Vivian Street, Wellington

14/2082

22 April 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	368
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Lunn	Alice Jane Taylor
	💍 1914/8409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	31	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	31 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Taylor, 84 Vivian Street, Wellington
Folio	14/2082
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

369

22 April 1914

Francis Herbert Swan
Adie Nina Passau

Francis Herbert Swan
Adie Nina Passan
💍 1914/8376

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

29
28

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
5 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Paterson Street, Wellington

14/2044

22 April 1914

Rev. D. Hurley

No	369
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Herbert Swan	Adie Nina Passau
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Herbert Swan	Adie Nina Passan
	💍 1914/8376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Paterson Street, Wellington
Folio	14/2044
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Hurley

370

22 April 1914

William Harry Rowles
Mildred O'Sullivan

William Harry Rowles
Mildred O'Sullivan
💍 1914/5893

Bachelor
Spinster

Tobacconist

29
26

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
2 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

14/3329

22 April 1914

Rev. E. Kimbell

No	370
Date of Notice	22 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harry Rowles	Mildred O'Sullivan
	💍 1914/5893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	14/3329
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Kimbell

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).