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 1979

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar Ernest White Cave

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

6 October 1914

Timothy Francis Sheahan
Susannah Leah Mintrom

Timothy Francis Sheahan
Susannah Leah Mintrom
💍 1914/4007

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

22
16

Blaketown
Blaketown

13 years
5 years

St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth

14/7868

George William Mintrom, Father

6 October 1914

Fr. Jas. Fraher

No	62
Date of Notice	6 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Francis Sheahan	Susannah Leah Mintrom
	💍 1914/4007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Blaketown	Blaketown
Length of Residence	13 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	14/7868
Consent	George William Mintrom, Father
Date of Certificate	6 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Fr. Jas. Fraher

10 October 1914

John William Leslie Hogarth
Emma Minnie Bruhn

John William Leslie Hogarth
Esma Minnie Bruhu
💍 1914/4012

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic

23
18

Paroa
Paroa

13 months
18 years

Private Residence of Mr Lewis Albert Bruhn, South Beach

14/7873

Lewis Albert Bruhn, Father

10 October 1914

Rev. Wm. Trotter

No	63
Date of Notice	10 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Leslie Hogarth	Emma Minnie Bruhn
BDM Match (94%)	John William Leslie Hogarth	Esma Minnie Bruhu
	💍 1914/4012
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Paroa	Paroa
Length of Residence	13 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Mr Lewis Albert Bruhn, South Beach
Folio	14/7873
Consent	Lewis Albert Bruhn, Father
Date of Certificate	10 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Trotter

12 October 1914

Joseph Buckley
Ethel Peel

Joseph Buckley
Ethel Peel
💍 1914/4011

Bachelor
Spinster

Wharf Labourer
Domestic

25
26

Greymouth
Greymouth

2 years
3 days

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

14/7872

12 October 1914

Rev. J. A. Rogers

No	64
Date of Notice	12 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Buckley	Ethel Peel
	💍 1914/4011
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wharf Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	14/7872
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Rogers

17 October 1914

Frederick McCarthy
Alice Morton Arcus

Frederick McCarthy
Alice Morton Arcus
💍 1914/3989

Bachelor
Spinster

Boiler maker
Tailoress

27
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

27 years
14 months

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth

14/7874

17 October 1914

Rev. Wm. Trotter

No	65
Date of Notice	17 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick McCarthy	Alice Morton Arcus
	💍 1914/3989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boiler maker	Tailoress
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	27 years	14 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Greymouth
Folio	14/7874
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Trotter

20 October 1914

Charles Henry McIntosh
Della Rebecca Hopkins

Charles Henry McIntosh
Della Rebecca Hopkins
💍 1914/4010

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

23
24

Greymouth
Greymouth

13 years
24 years

St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth

14/7871

20 October 1914

Rev. A. Ashcroft

No	66
Date of Notice	20 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry McIntosh	Della Rebecca Hopkins
	💍 1914/4010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Greymouth
Length of Residence	13 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church, Greymouth
Folio	14/7871
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft

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).