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 1923

District of Reefton Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Thomas Morgan

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

7 January 1914

Francis Joseph Delaney
Mary Josephine Dempsey

Francis Joseph Delaney
Mary Josephine Dempsey
💍 1914/7459

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

31
24

Inangahua Junction
Inangahua Junction

6 months
17 years

Residence of Martin Conrasson Inangahua Junction

1322

7 January 1914

Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Delaney	Mary Josephine Dempsey
	💍 1914/7459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Inangahua Junction	Inangahua Junction
Length of Residence	6 months	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Martin Conrasson Inangahua Junction
Folio	1322
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

12 January 1914

George Hargreaves Gothard
Saidie Marguerite Montgomerie

George Hargreaves Gothard
Sadie Marguerite Montgomerie
💍 1914/7493

Widower
Spinster

Merchant
Clerk

45
31

Westport
Reefton

44 years
25 years

St Stephens Church Reefton

1333

12 January 1914

Rev. C. A. Parker (Anglican)

No	2
Date of Notice	12 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hargreaves Gothard	Saidie Marguerite Montgomerie
BDM Match (98%)	George Hargreaves Gothard	Sadie Marguerite Montgomerie
	💍 1914/7493
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Clerk
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Westport	Reefton
Length of Residence	44 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church Reefton
Folio	1333
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Parker (Anglican)

15 January 1914

John Jerome Breeze
Florence Nightingale Campbell

John Jerome Breeze
Florence Nightingale Campbell
💍 1914/7460

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Clerk
Domestic duties

34
30

Reefton
Reefton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Reefton

1323

15 January 1914

Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

No	3
Date of Notice	15 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jerome Breeze	Florence Nightingale Campbell
	💍 1914/7460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Reefton
Folio	1323
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

20 January 1914

John Francis Dwyer
Julia Agnes Gannon

John Francis Dwyer
Julia Agnes Gannon
💍 1914/7461

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
School teacher

32
32

Reefton
Cronadun

3 days
32 years

Roman Catholic Church, Reefton

1324

20 January 1914

Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

No	4
Date of Notice	20 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Dwyer	Julia Agnes Gannon
	💍 1914/7461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	School teacher
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Cronadun
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Reefton
Folio	1324
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Galerne (Roman Catholic)

23 January 1914

Alexander Robbie Jacobsen
Margaret Steele

Alexander Robbie Jacobsen
Margaret Steele
💍 1914/7462

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

53
21

Reefton
Reefton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Reefton

1325

23 January 1914

Rev. J. N. Binsfeld (Roman Catholic)

No	5
Date of Notice	23 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Robbie Jacobsen	Margaret Steele
	💍 1914/7462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	53	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Reefton
Folio	1325
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Binsfeld (Roman Catholic)

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).