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 1113

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar W. G. 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

10 July 1915

Harold Ivo Silly
Ada Jane Boon

Harold Ivo Silby
Ada Jane Cook
💍 1915/3270

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese Maker
Domestic duties

23
25

Pihama
Oaonui

10 years
Life

Methodist Church Opunake

5362

10 July 1915

Geo. R. B. Lindsay

No	8
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Ivo Silly	Ada Jane Boon
BDM Match (89%)	Harold Ivo Silby	Ada Jane Cook
	💍 1915/3270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Maker	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Oaonui
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Opunake
Folio	5362
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Geo. R. B. Lindsay

22 July 1915

Arthur Perry
Phyllis Annie Corkill

Arthur Petty
Phyllis Annie Corkill
💍 1915/3268

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter maker
Domestic duties

29
24

Pihama
Pihama

4 years
2 years

Church of England Opunake

5360

22 July 1915

Rev O. H. Stent

No	9
Date of Notice	22 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Perry	Phyllis Annie Corkill
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Petty	Phyllis Annie Corkill
	💍 1915/3268
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter maker	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Opunake
Folio	5360
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev O. H. Stent

26 July 1915

James Oliver Parsons
Gertrude Violet King

James Oliver Parsons
Gertrude Violet King
💍 1915/3267

Bachelor
Spinster

Share milker
Domestic duties

22
21

Opunake
Opunake

9 years
Life

Church of England Opunake

5359

26 July 1915

Rev O. H. Stent

No	10
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Oliver Parsons	Gertrude Violet King
	💍 1915/3267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Share milker	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	9 years	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Opunake
Folio	5359
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev O. H. Stent

27 July 1915

Allan William Graydon
Lavinia Edwina Woolford

Allan William Graydon
Lavenia Edwina Woolford
💍 1915/3269

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory hand
Domestic duties

26
31

Te Kiri
Te Kiri

4 days
7 years

Church of England Te Kiri

5361

27 July 1915

Rev O. H. Stent

No	11
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan William Graydon	Lavinia Edwina Woolford
BDM Match (98%)	Allan William Graydon	Lavenia Edwina Woolford
	💍 1915/3269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory hand	Domestic duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Te Kiri	Te Kiri
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Te Kiri
Folio	5361
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev O. H. Stent

2 August 1915

Arthur Powell
Alice Lillian Morey

Arthur Powell
Alice Lillian Morey
💍 1915/3116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

33
42

Pihama
Pihama

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Opunake

15/5353

2 August 1915

W. R. Thompson, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	2 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Powell	Alice Lillian Morey
	💍 1915/3116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	33	42
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Opunake
Folio	15/5353
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1915
Officiating Minister	W. R. Thompson, Registrar

25 August 1915

Henry Dawson Baylis
Helen Paterson Zachray

Henry Bawcutt Baylis
Helen Paterson Machray
💍 1915/3266

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Pihama
Pihama

8 days
Life

Church of England Opunake

5358

25 August 1915

Rev O. H. Stent

No	13
Date of Notice	25 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Dawson Baylis	Helen Paterson Zachray
BDM Match (85%)	Henry Bawcutt Baylis	Helen Paterson Machray
	💍 1915/3266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	8 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England Opunake
Folio	5358
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev O. H. Stent

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).