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 1183

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar G. W. [illegible]

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

9 August 1915

Charles Booth Riddell
Catherine Sara Campbell

Charles Booth Riddell
Catherine Sara Campbell
💍 1915/3289

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
27

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Dannevirke

5403

9 August 1915

Rev. Father J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	9 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Booth Riddell	Catherine Sara Campbell
	💍 1915/3289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Dannevirke
Folio	5403
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

11 August 1915

John McGovern
Dorothy Fletcher

John McGovern
Dorothy Fletcher
💍 1915/3213

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

21
21

Kiritaki
Kiritaki

1 week
6 weeks

St. Albans Church Te Rehunga

5400

11 August 1915

Rev. E. Robertshawe, Anglican

No	38
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McGovern	Dorothy Fletcher
	💍 1915/3213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Kiritaki	Kiritaki
Length of Residence	1 week	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Albans Church Te Rehunga
Folio	5400
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Anglican

11 August 1915

Hadman Stanley Viles
Mabel Dennison

Stadman Stanley Viles
Mabel Dennison
💍 1915/3282

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Home duties

28
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

6 weeks
3 days

Anglican Church Dannevirke

5402

12 August 1915

Rev. E. Robertshawe, Anglican

No	39
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hadman Stanley Viles	Mabel Dennison
BDM Match (95%)	Stadman Stanley Viles	Mabel Dennison
	💍 1915/3282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Home duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Dannevirke
Folio	5402
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Robertshawe, Anglican

23 August 1915

John Kensington Amesbury
Marie Catherine Hecken

John Kensington Amesbury
Marie Catherine Tucker
💍 1915/5385

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Home duties

21
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 years
15 years

Anglican Church Dannevirke

7654

23 August 1915

Rev. C. E. Nicholas, Anglican

No	40
Date of Notice	23 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kensington Amesbury	Marie Catherine Hecken
BDM Match (93%)	John Kensington Amesbury	Marie Catherine Tucker
	💍 1915/5385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Home duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Dannevirke
Folio	7654
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Nicholas, Anglican

23 August 1915

George Silverwood
Ivy Alice Elaine Grice

George Silverwood
Ivy Alice Elaine Grice
💍 1915/4698

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
20

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 year
9 years

Dwelling of Mrs R.A. Grice High Street Dannevirke

6848

R. A. Grice, mother

23 August 1915

Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	23 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Silverwood	Ivy Alice Elaine Grice
	💍 1915/4698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 year	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs R.A. Grice High Street Dannevirke
Folio	6848
Consent	R. A. Grice, mother
Date of Certificate	23 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Hosking, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).