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 1235

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

115

1 July 1915

William Henry Parker
Evelyn Mortensen

William Henry Parker
Evelyn Mortensen
💍 1915/3313

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith's Striker
Domestic Servant

23
23

Napier
Napier

5 1/2 years
23 years

Baptist Church, Napier

5475

1 July 1915

Rev. Eric Evans, Baptist

No	115
Date of Notice	1 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Parker	Evelyn Mortensen
	💍 1915/3313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith's Striker	Domestic Servant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Napier
Folio	5475
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Eric Evans, Baptist

116

3 July 1915

Alfred Edward Jenkins
Marion Aline Lomas

Alfred Edward Jenkins
Marion Olive Lomas
💍 1915/3302

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Domestic Duties

28
23

Puketapu
Puketapu

1 year
3 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5465

3 July 1915

Rev. P. C. Davies, Church of England

No	116
Date of Notice	3 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Edward Jenkins	Marion Aline Lomas
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred Edward Jenkins	Marion Olive Lomas
	💍 1915/3302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Puketapu	Puketapu
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5465
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. C. Davies, Church of England

117

5 July 1915

Alexander West
Edith May Dorrington

Alexander West
Edith May Donington
💍 1915/3223

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
General Help

25
27

Napier
Napier

3 years
9 months

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

5436

5 July 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	117
Date of Notice	5 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander West	Edith May Dorrington
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander West	Edith May Donington
	💍 1915/3223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	General Help
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	9 months
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	5436
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

118

5 July 1915

Percy James Howell
Ellen Grant

Percy James Howell
Ellen Grant
💍 1915/3306

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic Duties

27
26

Napier
Napier

4 days
5 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5469

5 July 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	118
Date of Notice	5 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy James Howell	Ellen Grant
	💍 1915/3306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5469
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

119

7 July 1915

Arthur Herman Wilde
Ethel May James

Arthur Herman Wilde
Ethel May James
💍 1915/3305

Bachelor
Widow

Letterpress Machinist
Domestic Duties

32
24

Napier
Napier

5 years
5 months

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5468

7 July 1915

Rev. Archdeacon Ruddock, Church of England

No	119
Date of Notice	7 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Herman Wilde	Ethel May James
	💍 1915/3305
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Letterpress Machinist	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5468
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Ruddock, 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).