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 1621

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

386

29 April 1914

Vincent Colbeck
Grace Ethel Johnson

Vincent Calbeck
Grace Ethel Johnson
💍 1914/8407

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor

35
33

Petone
Petone

3 days
3 years

Baptist Church, Petone

2100

29 April 1914

Rev. J. G. Gibson

No	386
Date of Notice	29 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vincent Colbeck	Grace Ethel Johnson
BDM Match (97%)	Vincent Calbeck	Grace Ethel Johnson
	💍 1914/8407
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Petone
Folio	2100
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Gibson

387

29 April 1914

Charles John Fantham
Meerremmy Emily Lewis

Charles John Fantham
Merremny Emily Lewis
💍 1914/7642

Bachelor
Widow 10 January 1909

Farmer

46
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1984

29 April 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	387
Date of Notice	29 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Fantham	Meerremmy Emily Lewis
BDM Match (95%)	Charles John Fantham	Merremny Emily Lewis
	💍 1914/7642
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 10 January 1909
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1984
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

388

29 April 1914

William Henry Marsh
Agnes Foreman

William Henry Marsh
Agnes Foreman
💍 1914/9409

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

20
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Smith, 12 Petone Street, Wellington

4480

Lizzie Marsh, Mother

29 April 1914

Rev. J. Ward

No	388
Date of Notice	29 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Marsh	Agnes Foreman
	💍 1914/9409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Smith, 12 Petone Street, Wellington
Folio	4480
Consent	Lizzie Marsh, Mother
Date of Certificate	29 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ward

389

1 May 1914

John Gillow Elliott
Sarah Sweetman

John Gillow Elliott
Sarah Sweetman
💍 1914/7643

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

34
33

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

1985

1 May 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	389
Date of Notice	1 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gillow Elliott	Sarah Sweetman
	💍 1914/7643
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	1985
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

390

2 May 1914

George James Gooch
Alice May Sargent-Shadbolt

George James Gooch
Elise May Sargent-Shadbolt
💍 1914/8561

Bachelor
Spinster

Wire Worker

24
19

Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie

10 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. Shadbolt, Mahora St, Kilbirnie

2281

Thomas George Sargent-Shadbolt, Father

2 May 1914

Rev. W. Shirer

No	390
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Gooch	Alice May Sargent-Shadbolt
BDM Match (96%)	George James Gooch	Elise May Sargent-Shadbolt
	💍 1914/8561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wire Worker
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Shadbolt, Mahora St, Kilbirnie
Folio	2281
Consent	Thomas George Sargent-Shadbolt, Father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

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).