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 1249

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

177

22 October 1915

Boyd Thomson Mitchell
Sarah Elizabeth Wealleans

Boyd Thomson Mitchell
Sarah Elizabeth Weakeans
💍 1915/6682

Widower
Spinster

Motorman
Domestic Duties

35
29

Napier
Napier

2 years
12 months

Residence of J. Bailey, Marine Parade, Napier

9054

22 October 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	22 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Boyd Thomson Mitchell	Sarah Elizabeth Wealleans
BDM Match (96%)	Boyd Thomson Mitchell	Sarah Elizabeth Weakeans
	💍 1915/6682
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Motorman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Bailey, Marine Parade, Napier
Folio	9054
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

178

23 October 1915

Francis Aloysius Liquorie Hatwell
Annette Selina Smith

Francis Aloysius Lignori Hatwell
Annette Selina Smith
💍 1915/6608

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

22
18

Napier
Napier

22 years
18 years

Methodist Church, Napier

9039

Annette Elizabeth Smith, Mother

23 October 1915

Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	178
Date of Notice	23 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Aloysius Liquorie Hatwell	Annette Selina Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Aloysius Lignori Hatwell	Annette Selina Smith
	💍 1915/6608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	9039
Consent	Annette Elizabeth Smith, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Richards, Methodist

179

23 October 1915

John James Smith
Jane Anderson

John James Smith
Jane Anderson
💍 1915/7132

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Domestic Duties

38
32

Napier
Napier

38 years
32 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

9644

23 October 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	179
Date of Notice	23 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Smith	Jane Anderson
	💍 1915/7132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	38 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	9644
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

180

23 October 1915

William Bertie Blackburn
Jessie McClymont

William Bertie Blackburn
Jessie McClymont
💍 1915/6684

Bachelor
Spinster

Oilskin Manufacturer
Shop Assistant

24
25

Napier
Napier

23 years
4 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

9056

23 October 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	180
Date of Notice	23 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bertie Blackburn	Jessie McClymont
	💍 1915/6684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Oilskin Manufacturer	Shop Assistant
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	9056
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

181

27 October 1915

Bryan Hardy Turton
Agnes Kate Smyrk

Bryan Hardy Turton
Agnes Kate Smyrk
💍 1915/6689

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Nurse

28
30

Napier
Napier

4 days
15 years

Congregational Church, Napier

9060

27 October 1915

Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

No	181
Date of Notice	27 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bryan Hardy Turton	Agnes Kate Smyrk
	💍 1915/6689
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Nurse
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Napier
Folio	9060
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge, Congregational

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).