Intentions to Marry, 1915 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840459, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915c contains pages 1021-1500, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1111

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar W. R. Thompson

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

28 April 1915

Alfred Stanley Julian
Ethel Winifred O'Brien

Alfred Stanley Julian
Ethel Winifred OBrien
💍 1915/1474

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
23

Opunake
Opunake

10 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church of Opunake

3367

28 April 1915

Rev. C. Harnett

No	3
Date of Notice	28 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Stanley Julian	Ethel Winifred O'Brien
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Stanley Julian	Ethel Winifred OBrien
	💍 1915/1474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church of Opunake
Folio	3367
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Harnett

21 May 1915

Lawrence Edward Victor Billing
Alice Smith

Lawrence Edward Victor Billing
Alice Smith
💍 1915/1472

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
22

Rahotu
Pungarehu

Life
Life

Church of England Rahotu

3365

21 May 1915

Rev. C. Addenbrooke

No	4
Date of Notice	21 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Edward Victor Billing	Alice Smith
	💍 1915/1472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Pungarehu
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Rahotu
Folio	3365
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Addenbrooke

5 June 1915

Ronald Sinclair Smith
Theodora Frances Holmes

Ronald Sinclair Smith
Theodora Frances Holmes
💍 1915/10507

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
19

Pihama
Pihama

2 1/2 years
Life

Church of England Opunake

3364

Dan'l Holmes father

5 June 1915

Rev. O. M. Stent

No	5
Date of Notice	5 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Sinclair Smith	Theodora Frances Holmes
	💍 1915/10507
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Opunake
Folio	3364
Consent	Dan'l Holmes father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. M. Stent

7 June 1915

Frank Dean
Hazel Mabel Hoye

Frank Dean
Hazel Mabel Hoye
💍 1915/1473

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
20

Te Kiri
Opunake

6 weeks
6 weeks

at the residence of Mr T A Shaw, Opunake

3366

Joseph H W Hoye, father

7 June 1915

Rev. R. Welsh

No	6
Date of Notice	7 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Dean	Hazel Mabel Hoye
	💍 1915/1473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Te Kiri	Opunake
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr T A Shaw, Opunake
Folio	3366
Consent	Joseph H W Hoye, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Welsh

24 June 1915

John William Rowland
Mary Genevieve Golding

John William Rowlands
Mary Genevieve Golding
💍 1915/1470

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

24
21

Opunake
Oaonui

7 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Opunake

3363

24 June 1915

Rev. C. Harnett

No	7
Date of Notice	24 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Rowland	Mary Genevieve Golding
BDM Match (98%)	John William Rowlands	Mary Genevieve Golding
	💍 1915/1470
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Oaonui
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Opunake
Folio	3363
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Harnett

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).