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 1312

District of Levin Quarter ending 30 June 1914 Registrar H. H. Cork

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

211

2 May 1914

Charles Clinton Higginson
Margaret Stanway Gordon Glassford

Charles Clinton Higginson
Margaret Stanway Gordon-Glassford
💍 1914/7857

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

35
19

Koputaroa
Levin

8 years
18 months

St. Mary's Church, Levin

2926

James Gordon Glassford, Father

2 May 1914

Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

No	211
Date of Notice	2 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clinton Higginson	Margaret Stanway Gordon Glassford
BDM Match (99%)	Charles Clinton Higginson	Margaret Stanway Gordon-Glassford
	💍 1914/7857
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Koputaroa	Levin
Length of Residence	8 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Levin
Folio	2926
Consent	James Gordon Glassford, Father
Date of Certificate	2 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

212

11 May 1914

Alfred Francis Blackburn
Annie Brydon Retter

Alfred Francis Blackburn
Annie Brydon Retter
💍 1914/7858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Home Duties

25
21

Weraroa
Weraroa

3 Days
18 years

St. Mary's Church, Levin

2927

11 May 1914

Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

No	212
Date of Notice	11 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Francis Blackburn	Annie Brydon Retter
	💍 1914/7858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Home Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Weraroa
Length of Residence	3 Days	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Levin
Folio	2927
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Stealey, Anglican

213

16 May 1914

Herbert Henry Watson
Olive Bertha Andrews

Herbert Henry Watson
Olive Bertha Andrews
💍 1914/632

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Home Duties

19
18

Levin
Levin

19 months
18 years

Residence of James Andrews, Cambridge Street, Levin

2547

John James Watson, Father - James Andrews, Father

20 May 1914

Rev. William H. E. Abbey, Methodist

No	213
Date of Notice	16 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Watson	Olive Bertha Andrews
	💍 1914/632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Home Duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	19 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of James Andrews, Cambridge Street, Levin
Folio	2547
Consent	John James Watson, Father - James Andrews, Father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. William H. E. Abbey, Methodist

214

19 May 1914

Walter Cecil Campbell Pahl
Ethel Jane Woollett

Walter Cecil Campbell Pahe
Ethel Jane Woollett
💍 1914/631

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

28
21

Levin
Levin

3 Days
5 weeks

Residence of Mr Lewis Woollett, Cambridge Street, Levin

2546

19 May 1914

Rev. Arthur Cyril Randerson, Presbyterian

No	214
Date of Notice	19 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Cecil Campbell Pahl	Ethel Jane Woollett
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Cecil Campbell Pahe	Ethel Jane Woollett
	💍 1914/631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	3 Days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Lewis Woollett, Cambridge Street, Levin
Folio	2546
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur Cyril Randerson, Presbyterian

215

22 May 1914

Percy William Solly
Magdalena Gabriel Schramka

Percy William Solly
Magdelena Muriel Schramka
💍 1914/2845

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

28
23

Weraroa
Weraroa

3 Days
6 weeks

St. Andrews Church, Levin

6696

22 May 1914

Rev. Father Henry Le Bouteiller, Catholic

No	215
Date of Notice	22 May 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Solly	Magdalena Gabriel Schramka
BDM Match (92%)	Percy William Solly	Magdelena Muriel Schramka
	💍 1914/2845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Weraroa
Length of Residence	3 Days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Levin
Folio	6696
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Henry Le Bouteiller, Catholic

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).