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 1951

District of Waimangaroa Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar E. M. Sowerby

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

15 July 1914

John McKenzie
Margaret Ellena Saunders

John McKenzie
Margaret Ellena Saunders
💍 1914/9112

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

25
20

Denniston
Denniston

3 days
3 days

Residence of Miss Bottom, Denniston

14/6000

Susannah Saunders, mother

15 July 1914

Rev. James T. Burrows, Presbyterian, Westport

No	5
Date of Notice	15 July 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKenzie	Margaret Ellena Saunders
	💍 1914/9112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Miss Bottom, Denniston
Folio	14/6000
Consent	Susannah Saunders, mother
Date of Certificate	15 July 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. James T. Burrows, Presbyterian, Westport

24 August 1914

Arthur David Ruston
Beatrice Ellen Pellow

Arthur David Ruston
Beatrice Ellen Pellow
💍 1914/2420

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
21

Burnetts Face
Burnetts Face

10 years
1 1/2 years

Methodist Church, Denniston

14/6002

24 August 1914

Rev. R. H. Todd, Methodist, Denniston

No	6
Date of Notice	24 August 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur David Ruston	Beatrice Ellen Pellow
	💍 1914/2420
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Burnetts Face	Burnetts Face
Length of Residence	10 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Denniston
Folio	14/6002
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. H. Todd, Methodist, Denniston

4 September 1914

John Brown
Cathrine Marshell Atkinson

John Brown
Cathrine Marshall Atkinson
💍 1914/2409

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

36
26

Denniston
Denniston

25 years
2 years

Residence of John Atkinson Esq, Denniston

14/6001

4 September 1914

Rev. James T. Burrows, Presbyterian, Westport

No	7
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Brown	Cathrine Marshell Atkinson
BDM Match (98%)	John Brown	Cathrine Marshall Atkinson
	💍 1914/2409
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Denniston
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Atkinson Esq, Denniston
Folio	14/6001
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. James T. Burrows, Presbyterian, Westport

5 September 1914

Joseph Wakeman
May Collins

Joseph Wakeman
May Collins
💍 1914/2756

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
24

Denniston
Waimangaroa

3 years
17 years

Church of England, Waimangaroa

14/6534

5 September 1914

Rev. R. De Lambert, Church of England, Westport

No	8
Date of Notice	5 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Wakeman	May Collins
	💍 1914/2756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Denniston	Waimangaroa
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waimangaroa
Folio	14/6534
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. De Lambert, Church of England, Westport

8 September 1914

Thomas Carey
Ivy Dimmick

Thomas Carey
Ivy Dimmick
💍 1914/2754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

30
25

Birchfield
Westport

30 years
6 months

Church of England, Westport

14/6532

8 September 1914

Rev. R. De Lambert, Church of England, Westport

No	9
Date of Notice	8 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Carey	Ivy Dimmick
	💍 1914/2754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Birchfield	Westport
Length of Residence	30 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	14/6532
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. De Lambert, Church of England, Westport

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).