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 1153

District of Waitara Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar R. Crawshaw

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

5 January 1915

Walter James Haines
Ellen O'Leary

Walter James Haimes
Ellen OLeary
💍 1915/8793

Albert Parker
Ellen O'Leary
💍 1915/2175

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

25
28

Waitara
Waitara

2 years
7 months

Roman Catholic Church Waitara

943

5 January 1915

Rev. Dean James McKenna

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Haines	Ellen O'Leary
BDM Match (94%)	Walter James Haimes	Ellen OLeary
	💍 1915/8793
BDM Match (66%)	Albert Parker	Ellen O'Leary
	💍 1915/2175
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Waitara
Folio	943
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean James McKenna

26 January 1915

Norman Eugene Harris
Frances Mary Kendall Barleyman

Norman Eugene Harris
Frances Mary Kendall Barleyman
💍 1915/8792

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineman
Domestic duties

31
22

Waitara
Waitara

3 days
5 years

Wesleyan Church Waitara

942

26 January 1915

Rev. J. W. Griffin

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Eugene Harris	Frances Mary Kendall Barleyman
	💍 1915/8792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineman	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church Waitara
Folio	942
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin

2 February 1915

Temoa Matene
Kura Raumoa

Moa Matene
Kura Raumoa
💍 1915/4706

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
27

Urenui
Urenui

3 years
10 years

Church of England Waitara

6832

2 February 1915

Rev. Hone Wi Kaipo

No	3
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Temoa Matene	Kura Raumoa
BDM Match (88%)	Moa Matene	Kura Raumoa
	💍 1915/4706
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Urenui	Urenui
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Waitara
Folio	6832
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hone Wi Kaipo

16 February 1915

John Leo Power
Ivy Andrews

John Leo Power
Ivy Andrews
💍 1915/8791

Leighton Lionel Newlove
Ivy Andrews
💍 1915/6548

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
School Teacher

29
29

Waitara
Waitara

3 days
2 months

Roman Catholic Church Waitara

941

16 February 1915

Rev. Dean James McKenna

No	4
Date of Notice	16 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leo Power	Ivy Andrews
	💍 1915/8791
BDM Match (65%)	Leighton Lionel Newlove	Ivy Andrews
	💍 1915/6548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	School Teacher
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Waitara
Folio	941
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean James McKenna

16 February 1915

Clifton Arthur Cole
Eileen Jones

Clifton Arthur Cole
Eileen Jones
💍 1915/8790

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Tailoress

23
19

Waitara
Waitara

5 years
19 years

Brides Parents House Waitara

940

William Jones Father

16 February 1915

Rev. Dean James McKenna

No	5
Date of Notice	16 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifton Arthur Cole	Eileen Jones
	💍 1915/8790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Tailoress
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Brides Parents House Waitara
Folio	940
Consent	William Jones Father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean James McKenna

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).