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 1925

District of Reefton Quarter ending 30 June 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 April 1914

George Walters
Mary Eliza Coombe

George Walters
Mary Eliza Coombe
💍 1914/2263

Widower
Spinster

Battery Storekeeper
Domestic duties

45
21

Reefton
Reefton

2 years
21 years

Residence of W. M. E. Bashaw, Reefton

5987

7 April 1914

Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	7 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Walters	Mary Eliza Coombe
	💍 1914/2263
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Battery Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	45	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. M. E. Bashaw, Reefton
Folio	5987
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

8 April 1914

Charles William Neal
Catherine Holmes

Charles William Neal
Catherine Holmes
💍 1914/9128

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

42
45

Reefton
Reefton

5 months
11 years

Residence of Catherine Holmes, Reefton

4223

8 April 1914

Rev. R. Wilson, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	8 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Neal	Catherine Holmes
	💍 1914/9128
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	42	45
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	5 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Catherine Holmes, Reefton
Folio	4223
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wilson, Wesleyan

11 April 1914

Alfred Colin McEwin
Ethel Farrell

Alfred Colin McEwin
Ethel Farrell
💍 1914/2264

Bachelor
Spinster

Battery hand
Domestic

26
26

Crushington
Reefton

26 years
8 years

St Stephens Church, Reefton

5988

11 April 1914

Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	11 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Colin McEwin	Ethel Farrell
	💍 1914/2264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Battery hand	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Crushington	Reefton
Length of Residence	26 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church, Reefton
Folio	5988
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

27 April 1914

William Matthew McVicar
Ellen Hannah

William Mathew McVicar
Ellen Hannah
💍 1914/9127

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

24
21

Blackwater
Reefton

6 years
3 days

Wesleyan Parsonage, Reefton

4222

27 April 1914

Rev. R. Wilson, Wesleyan

No	11
Date of Notice	27 April 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Matthew McVicar	Ellen Hannah
BDM Match (98%)	William Mathew McVicar	Ellen Hannah
	💍 1914/9127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Blackwater	Reefton
Length of Residence	6 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Parsonage, Reefton
Folio	4222
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Wilson, Wesleyan

13 May 1914

James Alexander Watson
Elizabeth Lawson Archer

James Alexander Watson
Elizabeth Lawson Archer
💍 1914/2265

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
31

Reefton
Capleston

3 days
3 months

Anglican Church at Capleston

5989

13 May 1914

Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	13 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Watson	Elizabeth Lawson Archer
	💍 1914/2265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Capleston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church at Capleston
Folio	5989
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

22 June 1914

Maurice Archibald Stedman
Sophia Bartley Williams

Maurice Archibald Stedman
Sophia Bartley Williams
💍 1914/2266

Bachelor
Spinster

Drill Instructor
School Teacher

29
29

Reefton
Reefton

2 years
29 years

St Stephens Church at Reefton

5990

22 June 1914

Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	22 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Archibald Stedman	Sophia Bartley Williams
	💍 1914/2266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drill Instructor	School Teacher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Reefton
Length of Residence	2 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church at Reefton
Folio	5990
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Parker, Anglican

25 June 1914

George Andrew Menzies
Florence Myrtle Taylor

George Andrew Menzies
Florence Myrtle Taylor
💍 1914/5738

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Driver
Domestic duties

28
21

Reefton
Globe Hill

9 years
4 years

Residence of Herbert Harley, Globe Hill

3197

25 June 1914

Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	25 June 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Andrew Menzies	Florence Myrtle Taylor
	💍 1914/5738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Reefton	Globe Hill
Length of Residence	9 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Herbert Harley, Globe Hill
Folio	3197
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

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).