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 1259

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

227

24 December 1915

William Stark Lawrie
Mary Jane Campbell

William Stark Lawrie
Mary Jane Campbell
💍 1915/6615

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Drapers Assistant

31
25

Gisborne
Napier

27 months
25 years

Residence of Mrs. Campbell, Shakespeare Terrace, Napier

9024

24 December 1915

Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

No	227
Date of Notice	24 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stark Lawrie	Mary Jane Campbell
	💍 1915/6615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Drapers Assistant
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Napier
Length of Residence	27 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Campbell, Shakespeare Terrace, Napier
Folio	9024
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos. Tait, Presbyterian

228

29 December 1915

Reuben Percy Butter
Ivy Rose Dell

Reuben Percy Butler
Ivy Rose Dell
💍 1915/6609

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Housemaid

26
21

Napier
Napier

5 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

9017

29 December 1915

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	228
Date of Notice	29 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Percy Butter	Ivy Rose Dell
BDM Match (97%)	Reuben Percy Butler	Ivy Rose Dell
	💍 1915/6609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Housemaid
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	9017
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Registrar

229

29 December 1915

Herbert Henry Berry
Maud Elizabeth Collinge

Herbert Henry Berry
Maud Elizabeth Collinge
💍 1916/9360

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
28

Napier
Napier

13 years
28 years

St. Augustines Church, Napier

327

29 December 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	229
Date of Notice	29 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Berry	Maud Elizabeth Collinge
	💍 1916/9360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	13 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	327
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

230

29 December 1915

Haywood Henry McDougall
Mabelle Annie Pitts

Haywood Henry McDougall
Mabelle Annie Pitts
💍 1916/3408

Bachelor
Spinster

Press Reporter
Milliner

35
30

Napier
Napier

35 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Taradale

329

29 December 1915

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	230
Date of Notice	29 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Haywood Henry McDougall	Mabelle Annie Pitts
	💍 1916/3408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Press Reporter	Milliner
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	35 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Taradale
Folio	329
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

231

29 December 1915

Walter John Stevens
Myrtle Ellen Kohlois

Walter John Stevens
Myrtle Ellen Kohleis
💍 1916/3409

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Shop Assistant

21
23

Napier
Napier

15 years
5 years

Residence of H. B. Anderson, Wellesley Road, Napier

330

29 December 1915

Rev. F. H. Radford, Baptist

No	231
Date of Notice	29 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Stevens	Myrtle Ellen Kohlois
BDM Match (98%)	Walter John Stevens	Myrtle Ellen Kohleis
	💍 1916/3409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Shop Assistant
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	15 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of H. B. Anderson, Wellesley Road, Napier
Folio	330
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Radford, Baptist

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).