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 1252

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

192

6 November 1915

Albert William Morrison Rowe
Mabel Mary Forbes Irvine

Albert William Morrison Rowe
Mabel Mary Forbes Irvine
💍 1915/6611

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Typist

25
26

Taradale
Taradale

12 years
26 years

Catholic Church Meeanee

9019

6 November 1915

Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

No	192
Date of Notice	6 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Morrison Rowe	Mabel Mary Forbes Irvine
	💍 1915/6611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Typist
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	12 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Meeanee
Folio	9019
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

193

8 November 1915

William Herbert Richard Duley
Harriett Jane Connor

William Herbert Richard Duley
Harriett Jane Connor
💍 1915/7248

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

29
24

Napier
Port Ahuriri

6 days
24 years

St Mary's Church Port Ahuriri

9697

8 November 1915

Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	193
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Herbert Richard Duley	Harriett Jane Connor
	💍 1915/7248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	6 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	9697
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

194

8 November 1915

Frank William Young
Ethel Maud Church

Frank William Young
Ethel Maud Church
💍 1915/6700

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

27
19

Meeanee
Papakura

2 years
10 days

St Augustine's Church Napier

9047

Emily Church, Mother

8 November 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	194
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Young	Ethel Maud Church
	💍 1915/6700
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Meeanee	Papakura
Length of Residence	2 years	10 days
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	9047
Consent	Emily Church, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

195

9 November 1915

Henry Baker (Maori Half Caste)
Hineata Rahui (Maori Half Caste)

Bachelor
Spinster

Roadman
Domestic Duties

27
21

Tarawera
Tarawera

27 years
3 months

Registrar's Office Napier

9035

9 November 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	195
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Baker (Maori Half Caste)	Hineata Rahui (Maori Half Caste)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Roadman	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Tarawera	Tarawera
Length of Residence	27 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	9035
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

196

11 November 1915

John Alfred Chaney
Charlotte Williams

John Alfred Chaney
Charlotte Williams
💍 1915/6699

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

27
22

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St Augustine's Church Napier

9046

11 November 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	196
Date of Notice	11 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Chaney	Charlotte Williams
	💍 1915/6699
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	9046
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

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).