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 1438

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar A. Hawke

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

15 November 1915

Joseph Eccles Todhunter
Nora Mary Denham

Joseph Eccles Todhunter
Dora Mary Denham
💍 1915/6750

Bachelor
Widow

Sheep Farmer
Household Duties

42
33

Christchurch
Foxton

35 years
3 days

Church of England, Foxton

9136

15 November 1915

Rev. W. Raine, Foxton

No	27
Date of Notice	15 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Eccles Todhunter	Nora Mary Denham
BDM Match (97%)	Joseph Eccles Todhunter	Dora Mary Denham
	💍 1915/6750
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Household Duties
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Foxton
Length of Residence	35 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Foxton
Folio	9136
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Raine, Foxton

26 November 1915

Edward Treviren Treleaven
May Rea

Edward Trewren Treleaven
May Rea
💍 1915/6748

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

23
33

Foxton
Foxton

1 week
4 weeks

Registrars Office, Foxton

9134

26 November 1915

Registrar of marriages, Foxton

No	28
Date of Notice	26 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Treviren Treleaven	May Rea
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Trewren Treleaven	May Rea
	💍 1915/6748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	33
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	1 week	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Foxton
Folio	9134
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of marriages, Foxton

10 December 1915

Joseph Frederick Langdon
Huia May Read

Joseph Frederick Langdon
Alice May Prew
💍 1915/6738

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

25
21

Foxton
Foxton

10 years
14 years

All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton

9130

10 December 1915

Rev. W. Raine, Foxton

No	29
Date of Notice	10 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Frederick Langdon	Huia May Read
BDM Match (71%)	Joseph Frederick Langdon	Alice May Prew
	💍 1915/6738
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church, Foxton
Folio	9130
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Raine, Foxton

21 December 1915

George Ross Macpherson
Edith Emily Ferris

George Ross MacPherson
Edith Emily Ferris
💍 1915/6727

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Duties

28
24

Foxton
Foxton

6 years
3 years

Residence of Geo Ross Macpherson, Foxton

9129

21 December 1915

Rev. W. Rowe, Foxton

No	30
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ross Macpherson	Edith Emily Ferris
BDM Match (98%)	George Ross MacPherson	Edith Emily Ferris
	💍 1915/6727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Geo Ross Macpherson, Foxton
Folio	9129
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rowe, Foxton

27 December 1915

Harold Bennion Ward Osborne
Elizabeth Annie Ebbett

Harold Bennison Ward Osborne
Eliza Annie Ebbett
💍 1915/6668

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Duties

27
21

Foxton
Foxton

10 years
24 years

Methodist Church, Foxton

9128

27 December 1915

Rev. W. Rowe, Foxton

No	31
Date of Notice	27 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Bennion Ward Osborne	Elizabeth Annie Ebbett
BDM Match (89%)	Harold Bennison Ward Osborne	Eliza Annie Ebbett
	💍 1915/6668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Foxton
Folio	9128
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Rowe, Foxton

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).