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 1750

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1914 Registrar J. H. Thorpe

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

1023

15 December 1914

John Bathurst Jordan
Hedvig Frances Millicent Marshall

John Bathurst Jordan
Hedvig Frances Millicent Marshall
💍 1914/4664

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

35
26

Karori
Karori

10 years
6 years

St. Mary's Church, Karori

8562

15 December 1914

Rev. G. Y. Woodward

No	1023
Date of Notice	15 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bathurst Jordan	Hedvig Frances Millicent Marshall
	💍 1914/4664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Karori	Karori
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Karori
Folio	8562
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Y. Woodward

1024

15 December 1914

Joseph Rowberry
Bertha Wiseman

Joseph Rowberry
Bertha Wiseman
💍 1914/4634

Bachelor
Spinster

Tramway Motorman

26
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
4 months

St. Michael's Church, Kelburne

8532

15 December 1914

Archdn. G. G. Harper

No	1024
Date of Notice	15 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Rowberry	Bertha Wiseman
	💍 1914/4634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tramway Motorman
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Church, Kelburne
Folio	8532
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Archdn. G. G. Harper

1025

16 December 1914

Arthur Waters
Dorothy Agnes Wells

Arthur Waters
Dorothy Agnes Wells
💍 1914/4672

Bachelor
Spinster

Shorthand Typist

20
18

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

2 years
5 years

Church of England, Lower Hutt

8569

Edward Jabez Waters, Father; Louisa Theodora Wells, mother.

16 December 1914

Rev. H. Hansell

No	1025
Date of Notice	16 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Waters	Dorothy Agnes Wells
	💍 1914/4672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shorthand Typist
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Lower Hutt
Folio	8569
Consent	Edward Jabez Waters, Father; Louisa Theodora Wells, mother.
Date of Certificate	16 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Hansell

1026

16 December 1914

Edward Whitfield Stuart
Mary Harvey

Edward Whitfield Stuart
Mary Harrey
💍 1914/4676

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
26

Wellington
Wellington

8 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. O. Stuart, 16 Elizabeth Street, Wellington

8550

16 December 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	1026
Date of Notice	16 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Whitfield Stuart	Mary Harvey
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Whitfield Stuart	Mary Harrey
	💍 1914/4676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. O. Stuart, 16 Elizabeth Street, Wellington
Folio	8550
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

1027

16 December 1914

John Thomas Lepper
Isabella Todd

John Thomas Lepper
Isabella Todd
💍 1914/4647

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

30
20

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. J. Lepper, 47 Hall Street, Wellington

8544

Priscilla Todd, Mother

16 December 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	1027
Date of Notice	16 December 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Lepper	Isabella Todd
	💍 1914/4647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Lepper, 47 Hall Street, Wellington
Folio	8544
Consent	Priscilla Todd, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 December 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).