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 1223

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

29 March 1915

Edward Randolph Goulter
Mary Catherine Ballan

Edward Randolph Goulter
Mary Catherine Callan
💍 1915/759

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Clive
Dunedin

3 years
23 years

Catholic Church, Timaru

2727

29 March 1915

Rev. Dean Tubman, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Randolph Goulter	Mary Catherine Ballan
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Randolph Goulter	Mary Catherine Callan
	💍 1915/759
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Clive	Dunedin
Length of Residence	3 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Timaru
Folio	2727
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Tubman, Roman Catholic

29 March 1915

Thomas Alfred Botterill
Agnes Elizabeth Goldfinch

Thomas Alfred Cotterill
Agnes Elizabeth Goldfinch
💍 1915/1527

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Clerk

29
27

Clive
Napier

29 years
27 years

St Patrick's Church, Napier

3496

29 March 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Alfred Botterill	Agnes Elizabeth Goldfinch
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Alfred Cotterill	Agnes Elizabeth Goldfinch
	💍 1915/1527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Clerk
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Clive	Napier
Length of Residence	29 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	3496
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

30 March 1915

John William Coe
Mary Crombie

John William Coe
Mary Crombie
💍 1915/1531

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Dressmaker

31
32

Napier
Napier

31 years
10 years

St Patrick's Church, Napier

3500

29 March 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	65
Date of Notice	30 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Coe	Mary Crombie
	💍 1915/1531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Dressmaker
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	31 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	3500
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

31 March 1915

Alexander Thomas Hatwell
Harriet Grigg Kaye

Alexander Thomas Hatwell
Harriett Grigg Kaye
💍 1915/1631

Bachelor
Widow, 31st December 1910

Labourer
Tailoress

37
36

Napier
Napier

2 years
20 years

St Augustine's Church, Napier

3475

31 March 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Thomas Hatwell	Harriet Grigg Kaye
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Thomas Hatwell	Harriett Grigg Kaye
	💍 1915/1631
Condition	Bachelor	Widow, 31st December 1910
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3475
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

31 March 1915

Harold Nelson Bartlett
Rita Marion Howard

Harold Nelson Bartlett
Rita Marion Howard
💍 1915/1525

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic Duties

24
23

Waipawa
Napier

18 months
3 days

St Augustine's Church, Napier

3477

31 March 1915

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	31 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Nelson Bartlett	Rita Marion Howard
	💍 1915/1525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Napier
Length of Residence	18 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3477
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

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).