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 1181

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar [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

8 July 1915

Alexander Watson
Mary Paul Menzies

Alexander Watson
Mary Paul Menzies
💍 1915/3635

Widower
Spinster

Station master
Home duties

51
47

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 month

House of Mr Charles Piper, Penothoman St, Wellington

5800

8 July 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	8 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Watson	Mary Paul Menzies
	💍 1915/3635
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Station master	Home duties
Age	51	47
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 month
Marriage Place	House of Mr Charles Piper, Penothoman St, Wellington
Folio	5800
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman, Methodist

10 July 1915

John Herbert McWilliam Finlayson
Hilda Kathleen Eliza Benton

John Herbert McWilliam Finlayson
Hilda Kathleen Eliza Benton
💍 1915/3212

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Clerk

27
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
11 years

Dwelling of Mr H. Benton, Dannevirke

5399

10 July 1915

Rev. William Finlayson, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert McWilliam Finlayson	Hilda Kathleen Eliza Benton
	💍 1915/3212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr H. Benton, Dannevirke
Folio	5399
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Finlayson, Presbyterian

10 July 1915

Leonard Kaituna Manson
Margaret Jane Smith

Leonard Kaituna Manson
Margaret Jane Smith
💍 1915/4582

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Home duties

30
27

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

6808

10 July 1915

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	10 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Kaituna Manson	Margaret Jane Smith
	💍 1915/4582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Home duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	6808
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

12 July 1915

Robert Benjamin Gibson
Agnes Jane Graham

Robert Benjamin Gibson
Jane Agnes Graham
💍 1915/4559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

26
19

Maharahara
Maharahara

over 10 years
3 years

Dwelling of Mr J. Graham, Maharahara

6809

John Graham, Father

12 July 1915

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Benjamin Gibson	Agnes Jane Graham
BDM Match (82%)	Robert Benjamin Gibson	Jane Agnes Graham
	💍 1915/4559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Maharahara	Maharahara
Length of Residence	over 10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr J. Graham, Maharahara
Folio	6809
Consent	John Graham, Father
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

14 July 1915

Bruce Melville Kibblewhite
Lilian Margaret Furley

Bruce Melville Kibblewhite
Lilian Margaret Turley
💍 1915/3373

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

26
26

Dannevirke
Carterton

2 1/2 years

House of Mr L. Barber, Carterton

5535

14 July 1915

Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	14 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bruce Melville Kibblewhite	Lilian Margaret Furley
BDM Match (98%)	Bruce Melville Kibblewhite	Lilian Margaret Turley
	💍 1915/3373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Carterton
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr L. Barber, Carterton
Folio	5535
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Thompson, Presbyterian

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).