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 1803

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar C. O. Trownson

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

2 October 1914

Ernest William McKenzie
Frances Martha Kinzett

Ernest William McKenzie
Frances Martha Kinzett
💍 1914/3897

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock drover
Domestic

24
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

24 years
7 days

Mr. J. McKenzie's residence, Munro Street, Blenheim

14/7777

2 October 1914

Rev. W. O. Robb

No	50
Date of Notice	2 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William McKenzie	Frances Martha Kinzett
	💍 1914/3897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock drover	Domestic
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	24 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Mr. J. McKenzie's residence, Munro Street, Blenheim
Folio	14/7777
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb

7 October 1914

Robert William Gardiner
Sarah Jane Leslie

Robert William Gardiner
Sarah Jane Leslie
💍 1914/3905

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw mill hand
Domestic duties

25
30

Okaramio
Okaramio

3 days
30 years

Mr. J. Leslie's Dwelling house, Okaramio

14/7784

7 October 1914

Mr. A. H. Coates

No	51
Date of Notice	7 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Gardiner	Sarah Jane Leslie
	💍 1914/3905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Okaramio
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Mr. J. Leslie's Dwelling house, Okaramio
Folio	14/7784
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. H. Coates

10 October 1914

George Harvey
Margaret Houston Wylie

George Harvey
Margaret Houston Wylie
💍 1914/3898

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

43
43

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

14/7778

10 October 1914

Rev. W. O. Robb

No	52
Date of Notice	10 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Harvey	Margaret Houston Wylie
	💍 1914/3898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	14/7778
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb

13 October 1914

William Thomas Harvey
Mary Ann Shakespeare

William Thomas Harvey
Mary Ann Shakespeare
💍 1914/3857

Bachelor
Spinster

Chaffeur
Cook

35
27

Ugbrooke Awatere
Ugbrooke Awatere

1 year
18 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim

14/7788

13 October 1914

C. O. Trounson, Registrar of Marriages for Wairau

No	53
Date of Notice	13 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Harvey	Mary Ann Shakespeare
	💍 1914/3857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chaffeur	Cook
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Ugbrooke Awatere	Ugbrooke Awatere
Length of Residence	1 year	18 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Blenheim
Folio	14/7788
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1914
Officiating Minister	C. O. Trounson, Registrar of Marriages for Wairau

17 October 1914

Edward Arthur Francis
Alice Midgley

Edward Arthur Francis
Alice Midgley
💍 1914/3858

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Lady's help

39
32

Seddon
Seddon

39 years
2 years

Church of England, Blenheim

14/7789

17 October 1914

The Venerable Archdeacon T. S. Grace

No	54
Date of Notice	17 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Francis	Alice Midgley
	💍 1914/3858
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Lady's help
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Seddon	Seddon
Length of Residence	39 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Blenheim
Folio	14/7789
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1914
Officiating Minister	The Venerable Archdeacon T. S. Grace

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).