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 1966

District of Grey Quarter ending 31 March 1914 Registrar Ernest Johnke

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 January 1914

Thomas Sweetman
May Senior

Thomas Sweetman
May Senior
💍 1914/7484

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic servant

20
20

Brunnerton, Greymouth
Brunnerton, Greymouth

3 years 7 days
20 years 7 days

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

1347

Johanna Sweetman, mother; John Senior, father

15 January 1914

Rev. Fraher

No	7
Date of Notice	15 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Sweetman	May Senior
	💍 1914/7484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic servant
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Brunnerton, Greymouth	Brunnerton, Greymouth
Length of Residence	3 years 7 days	20 years 7 days
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	1347
Consent	Johanna Sweetman, mother; John Senior, father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Fraher

16 January 1914

Eleazar Griffiths
Lilly May Robinson

Eleazar Griffiths
Lilly May Robinson
💍 1914/7594

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic

27
26

Greymouth
Opawa, Christchurch

3 years
8 years

Methodist Church, Opawa

1486

16 January 1914

Rev. Wm. Laycock

No	8
Date of Notice	16 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eleazar Griffiths	Lilly May Robinson
	💍 1914/7594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Greymouth	Opawa, Christchurch
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Opawa
Folio	1486
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Laycock

21 January 1914

Stanley John Davie
Louisa Mary Edith Hornsby

Stanley John Davies
Louisa Mary Edith Hornsby
💍 1914/7485

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

32
22

Ngakawau
Greymouth, Cobden

7 years
3 days 22 years

Residence of Mr Jas Hornsby, Fox St, Cobden

1348

21 January 1914

Rev. A. Ashcroft

No	9
Date of Notice	21 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley John Davie	Louisa Mary Edith Hornsby
BDM Match (97%)	Stanley John Davies	Louisa Mary Edith Hornsby
	💍 1914/7485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Ngakawau	Greymouth, Cobden
Length of Residence	7 years	3 days 22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Jas Hornsby, Fox St, Cobden
Folio	1348
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft

24 January 1914

Frederick George Halpin
Sarah Jane Zell

Frederick George Halsey
Sarah Jane Fell
💍 1914/7487

Frederick George Clarke
Sarah Riley
💍 1914/2164

Frederick George Stanley
Sarah Constance Lyford
💍 1914/4918

Bachelor
Spinster

Motorman
Domestic

26
19

Otira, Greymouth
Otira, Greymouth

4 years 7 days
14 years 7 days

Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth

1350

Frederick William Zell, father

27 January 1914

Ven. Archdeacon York

No	10
Date of Notice	24 January 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Halpin	Sarah Jane Zell
BDM Match (90%)	Frederick George Halsey	Sarah Jane Fell
	💍 1914/7487
BDM Match (60%)	Frederick George Clarke	Sarah Riley
	💍 1914/2164
BDM Match (60%)	Frederick George Stanley	Sarah Constance Lyford
	💍 1914/4918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Otira, Greymouth	Otira, Greymouth
Length of Residence	4 years 7 days	14 years 7 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Greymouth
Folio	1350
Consent	Frederick William Zell, father
Date of Certificate	27 January 1914
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon York

9 February 1914

Martin Joseph Kelly
Ida Marion Priest

Martin Joseph Kelly
Ida Marion Priest
💍 1914/7489

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic

24
22

Rotomanu
Rotomanu

15 years
10 years

St Patrick's Church, Greymouth

1352

9 February 1914

Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

No	11
Date of Notice	9 February 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Joseph Kelly	Ida Marion Priest
	💍 1914/7489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Rotomanu	Rotomanu
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Greymouth
Folio	1352
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1914
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean D. P. Carew

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).