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 1231

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 May 1915

Seymour Augustus Page
Gertrude Florence Zachan

Seymour Augustus Page
Gertrude Florence Zachan
💍 1915/1642

Widower 15th April 1911
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

26
19

Greenmeadows
Westshore

20 years
19 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

3512

Ernest Charles Zachan, Father

20 May 1915

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	99
Date of Notice	20 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Seymour Augustus Page	Gertrude Florence Zachan
	💍 1915/1642
Condition	Widower 15th April 1911	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Westshore
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	3512
Consent	Ernest Charles Zachan, Father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

100

20 May 1915

Stephen Vowless
Laura May Plunkett

Stephen Vowless
Laura May Plunkett
💍 1915/1643

Bachelor
Divorced 23rd June 1906

Fireman
Domestic Duties

47
36

Napier
Napier

5 years
6 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

3513

20 May 1915

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	100
Date of Notice	20 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Vowless	Laura May Plunkett
	💍 1915/1643
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 23rd June 1906
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	3513
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

101

21 May 1915

James Hunter George Murdoch
Edith Louise Babington

James Hunter George Murdock
Edith Louise Babington
💍 1915/4512

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister
Hospital Nurse

34
33

Napier
Napier

8 years
6 years

St John's Cathedral Napier

6737

21 May 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

No	101
Date of Notice	21 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hunter George Murdoch	Edith Louise Babington
BDM Match (98%)	James Hunter George Murdock	Edith Louise Babington
	💍 1915/4512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister	Hospital Nurse
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	6737
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne Church of England

102

27 May 1915

Patrick Butler
Amy Elizabeth Hayes

Patrick Butler
Amy Elizabeth Hayes
💍 1915/1660

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

35
26

Waiau
Puketapu

2 1/2 years
26 years

Residence of Edward Hayes Puketapu

3506

27 May 1915

Rev. Father Goggan Roman Catholic

No	102
Date of Notice	27 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Butler	Amy Elizabeth Hayes
	💍 1915/1660
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Waiau	Puketapu
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Hayes Puketapu
Folio	3506
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goggan Roman Catholic

103

29 May 1915

Frank Bertram Younghusband
Mary Izat Brown Galloway

Frank Bertram Younghusband
May Izat Brown Galloway
💍 1915/10792

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Domestic

28
29

Napier
Napier

3 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs. Russell Carlyle Street Napier

3452

29 May 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	103
Date of Notice	29 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Bertram Younghusband	Mary Izat Brown Galloway
BDM Match (98%)	Frank Bertram Younghusband	May Izat Brown Galloway
	💍 1915/10792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Domestic
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Russell Carlyle Street Napier
Folio	3452
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

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).