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 1679

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 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

676

17 August 1914

Thomas Hayes
Pauline Petersen

Thomas Hayes
Gauline Petersen
💍 1914/2174

Bachelor
Spinster

Train Examiner

23
21

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

4 days
4 days

Residence of Mr C. O'Brien, Main Road, Lower Hutt

5896

17 August 1914

Rev. J. J. Lane

No	676
Date of Notice	17 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hayes	Pauline Petersen
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Hayes	Gauline Petersen
	💍 1914/2174
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Train Examiner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr C. O'Brien, Main Road, Lower Hutt
Folio	5896
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Lane

677

17 August 1914

Otto Oskar Kraft
Cecilia Edith Victoria Wood

Otto Oskar Kraft
Cecilia Edith Victoria Wood
💍 1914/9439

Bachelor
Married, not heard of husband since 1906

Labourer

32
31

Wellington
Wellington

19 months
16 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

5734

17 August 1914

Deputy Registrar

No	677
Date of Notice	17 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Otto Oskar Kraft	Cecilia Edith Victoria Wood
	💍 1914/9439
Condition	Bachelor	Married, not heard of husband since 1906
Profession	Labourer
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	19 months	16 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	5734
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

678

18 August 1914

George Ruthven Kemsley
Catherine Mabel Jordan

George Ruthven Kemsley
Catherine Mabel Jordan
💍 1914/3070

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager

30
30

Karori
Karori

3 days
6 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

6893

18 August 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	678
Date of Notice	18 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ruthven Kemsley	Catherine Mabel Jordan
	💍 1914/3070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	6893
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

679

18 August 1914

Joseph Charles Kenny
Nora Veronica Walshe

Charles Joseph Kenny
Nora Veronica Walshe
💍 1914/2123

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

32
25

Wellington
Wellington

16 years
25 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington

5821

18 August 1914

Rev. P. W. Tymons

No	679
Date of Notice	18 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Charles Kenny	Nora Veronica Walshe
BDM Match (65%)	Charles Joseph Kenny	Nora Veronica Walshe
	💍 1914/2123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Hill Street, Wellington
Folio	5821
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Tymons

680

18 August 1914

John Anderson McQueen
Jessie Eliza Ross

John Anderson McQuinn
Jessie Eliza Ross
💍 1914/2936

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
32

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
11 years

Residence of Mrs Ross, 21a Glenbervie Terrace, Wellington

6663

18 August 1914

Rev. E. R. Harries

No	680
Date of Notice	18 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Anderson McQueen	Jessie Eliza Ross
BDM Match (95%)	John Anderson McQuinn	Jessie Eliza Ross
	💍 1914/2936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Ross, 21a Glenbervie Terrace, Wellington
Folio	6663
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. R. Harries

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).