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 1461

District of Hunterville Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar A. J. W. Johnston

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 October 1915

Nathan Early
Jane Eliza Brown

Nathan Early
Jane Eliza Brown
💍 1915/6740

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

38
39

Hunterville
Hunterville

3 days
20 years

Residence of Mr Brown, Rewa

9149

20 October 1915

Rev. E. G. Evans

No	15
Date of Notice	20 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Early	Jane Eliza Brown
	💍 1915/6740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Brown, Rewa
Folio	9149
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Evans

22 October 1915

Hector William Fairbrother
Mary Miller

Hector William Fairbrother
Mary Miller
💍 1915/6741

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic

28
23

Hunterville
Hunterville

3 1/2 years
4 years

Residence of Mr Robert McAllister, Hunterville

9150

22 October 1915

Rev. E. G. Evans

No	16
Date of Notice	22 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector William Fairbrother	Mary Miller
	💍 1915/6741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Robert McAllister, Hunterville
Folio	9150
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Evans

13 November 1915

George Stratford
Myrtle Steinmuller

George Stratford
Myrtle Steinmuller
💍 1915/7536

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Saleswoman

31
23

Hunterville
Hunterville

21 years
10 years

Church of England, Hunterville

10045

13 November 1915

Rev. W. F. Grove

No	17
Date of Notice	13 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stratford	Myrtle Steinmuller
	💍 1915/7536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Saleswoman
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hunterville
Folio	10045
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Grove

10 December 1915

Charles Robertson Sneddon
Alice Maria Watkins

Charles Robertson Sneddon
Alice Maria Watkins
💍 1915/6742

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housekeeper

30
27

Waverley
Hunterville

12 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Hunterville

9151

10 December 1915

Rev. E. G. Evans

No	18
Date of Notice	10 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robertson Sneddon	Alice Maria Watkins
	💍 1915/6742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Waverley	Hunterville
Length of Residence	12 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hunterville
Folio	9151
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Evans

13 December 1915

John Walter Thomas Carter
Dorothy Beatrice Robertson

John Walter Thomas Carter
Dorothy Beatrice Robertson
💍 1915/6744

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
19

Hunterville
Hunterville

6 weeks
5 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hunterville

9153

George Robertson (Father)

13 December 1915

A. J. W. Johnston, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walter Thomas Carter	Dorothy Beatrice Robertson
	💍 1915/6744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Hunterville	Hunterville
Length of Residence	6 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Hunterville
Folio	9153
Consent	George Robertson (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	A. J. W. Johnston, Registrar

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).