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 1487

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar William Miller Easthope

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

6 January 1915

Norman Blatchford
Margaret Wyeth

Norman Blatchford
Margaret Wyeth
💍 1915/7730

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Masterton
Masterton

26 years
22 years

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

978

6 January 1915

Rev. B. Ashcroft, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Blatchford	Margaret Wyeth
	💍 1915/7730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	26 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	978
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Ashcroft, Anglican

8 January 1915

Thomas Lawrence Foley
Mabel May Davey

Thomas Laurence Foley
Mabel May Davey
💍 1915/8704

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Domestic duties

32
32

Masterton
Masterton

2 years
2 years

The Public Hospital, Masterton

781

8 January 1915

Rev. S. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lawrence Foley	Mabel May Davey
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Laurence Foley	Mabel May Davey
	💍 1915/8704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic duties
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Public Hospital, Masterton
Folio	781
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Serpell, Wesleyan

12 January 1915

Henry Heathcote Mawley
Kathleen Hilda Beard

Henry Heathcote Mawley
Kathleen Hilda Beard
💍 1915/7731

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
33

Masterton
Masterton

32 years
33 years

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

979

12 January 1915

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Heathcote Mawley	Kathleen Hilda Beard
	💍 1915/7731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	32 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	979
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

18 January 1915

Norman Philip Williams
Ivy Kathleen Curry

Norman Philip Williams
Ivy Kathleen Curry
💍 1915/7965

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Dressmaker

23
21

Masterton
Masterton

1 year
21 years

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

1863

18 January 1915

Rev. Dean McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	18 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Philip Williams	Ivy Kathleen Curry
	💍 1915/7965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	1863
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean McKenna, Roman Catholic

30 January 1915

John Henry Davenport
Eliza Wantling

John Henry Davenport
Eliza Wantling
💍 1915/8703

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Nurse

62
49

Masterton
Masterton

2 years
9 months

The Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne

780

30 January 1915

Rev. J. Halliday, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	30 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Davenport	Eliza Wantling
	💍 1915/8703
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nurse
Age	62	49
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	2 years	9 months
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne
Folio	780
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Halliday, Presbyterian

1 February 1915

Robert Gollop
Jean Marie Buist

Robert Gollop
Jean Marie Buist
💍 1915/8695

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman
Domestic duties

39
39

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
3 days

The Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne, Masterton

778

1 February 1915

Rev. J. Halliday, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gollop	Jean Marie Buist
	💍 1915/8695
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	Domestic duties
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne, Masterton
Folio	778
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Halliday, Presbyterian

2 February 1915

Vivian Joseph
Elsie Eva Raymond

Vivian Joseph
Elsie Eva Raymond
💍 1915/8277

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Telephone cadette

31
26

Masterton
Wellington

2 years
3 weeks

The house of H. Foster, 105 Austin Street, Wellington

353

2 February 1915

Rev. J. R. Glasson, Congregational

No	7
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Joseph	Elsie Eva Raymond
	💍 1915/8277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Telephone cadette
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	The house of H. Foster, 105 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	353
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson, Congregational

9 February 1915

John Henry Pearson
Elizabeth Blewett

John Henry Pearson
Elizabeth Blewitt
💍 1915/7964

John Blair Pearson
Mary Elizabeth Ewart
💍 1915/9270

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Housekeeper

24
36

Masterton
Masterton

8 weeks
5 weeks

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

1862

9 February 1915

Rev. Dean McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Pearson	Elizabeth Blewett
BDM Match (97%)	John Henry Pearson	Elizabeth Blewitt
	💍 1915/7964
BDM Match (61%)	John Blair Pearson	Mary Elizabeth Ewart
	💍 1915/9270
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	24	36
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	8 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	1862
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean McKenna, Roman Catholic

9 February 1915

Ernest Harold Morton
Nellie Robins

Ernest Harold Morton
Nellie Robins
💍 1915/7732

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

31
26

Masterton
Masterton

3 days
26 years

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

980

9 February 1915

Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	9 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harold Morton	Nellie Robins
	💍 1915/7732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	980
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Anglican

20 February 1915

John Francis Foley
Ada Thomas

John Francis Foley
Ada Thomas
💍 1915/9009

Cyril Francis Connolly
Mona Thomas
💍 1915/2572

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Farmer
Domestic Servant

26
28

Nelson
Masterton

9 months
9 months

The Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson

1261

20 February 1915

Rev. William Baumber, Wesleyan

No	10
Date of Notice	20 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Foley	Ada Thomas
	💍 1915/9009
BDM Match (64%)	Cyril Francis Connolly	Mona Thomas
	💍 1915/2572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Masterton
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Parsonage, Nelson
Folio	1261
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Baumber, Wesleyan

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).