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 1313

District of Waipukurau Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar D. Macdonald

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

19 July 1915

Alexander Johnston
Ruth Elizabeth Avison

Alexander Johnston
Ruth Elizabeth Avison
💍 1915/3327

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Household servant

22
22

Wanstead
Waipukurau

22 years
6 years

Residence of Mr Alex Johnston senior, Wanstead

5490

19 July 1915

Rev N. O. White

No	7A
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Johnston	Ruth Elizabeth Avison
	💍 1915/3327
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Household servant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wanstead	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Alex Johnston senior, Wanstead
Folio	5490
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev N. O. White

28 July 1915

Alick William Marshall
Mary Ann Sims

Alick William Marshall
Mary Ann Sims
💍 1915/3326

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Household

31
26

Waipukurau
Wallingford

5 years
26 years

Residence of Mrs Sims senior, Wallingford

5489

28 July 1915

Rev N. O. White

No	8
Date of Notice	28 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alick William Marshall	Mary Ann Sims
	💍 1915/3326
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Household
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Wallingford
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Sims senior, Wallingford
Folio	5489
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev N. O. White

05 August 1915

Hugh Oswald Murray Christie
Katharine Macara

Hugh Oswald Murray Christie
Katherine MacAra
💍 1915/3580

Widower
Spinster

Fields Inspector
Domestic

37
36

Waipukurau
Palmerston North

5 1/2 years
2 months

Residence of J. S. Rankin, Palmerston North

5677

05 August 1915

Rev A. Doull

No	9
Date of Notice	05 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Oswald Murray Christie	Katharine Macara
BDM Match (94%)	Hugh Oswald Murray Christie	Katherine MacAra
	💍 1915/3580
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fields Inspector	Domestic
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of J. S. Rankin, Palmerston North
Folio	5677
Consent
Date of Certificate	05 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull

13 August 1915

John McLean
Elizabeth Agnes O'Leary

John McLean
Elizabeth Agnes O'Leary
💍 1915/3324

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

38
33

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

20 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waipukurau

5487

13 August 1915

Registrar of Marriages, Waipukurau

No	10
Date of Notice	13 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLean	Elizabeth Agnes O'Leary
	💍 1915/3324
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	20 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Waipukurau
Folio	5487
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Waipukurau

27 September 1915

Arthur Edward Chapman
Edith May Granger

Arthur Edward Chapman
Edith May Granger
💍 1915/3325

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

32
21

Waipukurau
Waipukurau

11 years
21 years

Residence of Mr Charles Main, Waipukurau

5488

27 September 1915

Rev N. O. White

No	11
Date of Notice	27 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Chapman	Edith May Granger
	💍 1915/3325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	11 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Charles Main, Waipukurau
Folio	5488
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev N. O. White

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).