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 1108

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1914 Registrar William Buchanan

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

140

4 September 1914

Lawrence Pickles
Margaret Davidson

Lawrence Pickles
Margaret Davidson
💍 1914/1775

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
34

Clive
Clive

3 days
20 years

Presbyterian Church Clive

14/5427

4 September 1914

Rev. F. Tucker

No	140
Date of Notice	4 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Pickles	Margaret Davidson
	💍 1914/1775
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	34
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Clive
Folio	14/5427
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Tucker

141

7 September 1914

John Thomas Taylor
Dulcie Grace Balfour

John Thomas Taylor
Dulcie Grace Balfour
💍 1914/1699

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

29
24

Westshore
Napier

29 years
24 years

No. 11 Bay View Road Napier

14/5419

7 September 1914

Rev. J. A. Asher

No	141
Date of Notice	7 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Taylor	Dulcie Grace Balfour
	💍 1914/1699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Napier
Length of Residence	29 years	24 years
Marriage Place	No. 11 Bay View Road Napier
Folio	14/5419
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher

142

9 September 1914

Albin Hjalmar Holmstrom
Sarah Martha Kitt

Albin Hyalmar Holmstrom
Sarah Martha Kitt
💍 1914/1885

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Dressmaker

33
25

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

6 years
4 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

14/5533

9 September 1914

Rev. Canon Tuke

No	142
Date of Notice	9 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albin Hjalmar Holmstrom	Sarah Martha Kitt
BDM Match (98%)	Albin Hyalmar Holmstrom	Sarah Martha Kitt
	💍 1914/1885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Dressmaker
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	14/5533
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke

143

14 September 1914

Albert Pettigrew
Bertha Elizabeth Winifred Harvey

Albert Pettigrew
Bertha Elizabeth Winifred Harvey
💍 1914/3083

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
24

Petane
Petane

3 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri

14/6882

14 September 1914

Rev. Thos. Tait

No	143
Date of Notice	14 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Pettigrew	Bertha Elizabeth Winifred Harvey
	💍 1914/3083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Petane	Petane
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	14/6882
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait

144

29 September 1914

John Oswald Adamson
Beryl Phyllis Glass

John Oswald Adamson
Beryl Phyllis Glass
💍 1914/1701

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Duties

23
18

Napier
Napier

6 years
3 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

14/5420

Ellen Jessie Alice Bailey, mother

29 September 1914

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	144
Date of Notice	29 September 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Oswald Adamson	Beryl Phyllis Glass
	💍 1914/1701
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	14/5420
Consent	Ellen Jessie Alice Bailey, mother
Date of Certificate	29 September 1914
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

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).