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 1242

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

150

7 September 1915

Jack Bush (Maori of full blood)
Rose Mason (Maori of full blood)

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
21

Te Haroto
Te Haroto

23 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Napier

5449

7 September 1915

W. Buchanan Registrar

No	150
Date of Notice	7 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Bush (Maori of full blood)	Rose Mason (Maori of full blood)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Te Haroto	Te Haroto
Length of Residence	23 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	5449
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan Registrar

151

8 September 1915

Henry Vincent Phillips
Jessie Magdalene Davidson

Henry Vincent Phillips
Jessie Magdalene Davidson
💍 1915/3320

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Domestic Duties

28
27

Napier
Napier

3 days
27 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

5459

8 September 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	151
Date of Notice	8 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Vincent Phillips	Jessie Magdalene Davidson
	💍 1915/3320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	5459
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

152

8 September 1915

Ernest Hunter Barrett
Jane Cecilia Ellen Lee

Ernest Hunter Barrett
Jane Cecilia Ellen Lee
💍 1915/3319

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

21
18

Napier
Napier

4 years
10 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

5458

Helena E. C. Kennedy formerly Lee, Mother

8 September 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	8 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Hunter Barrett	Jane Cecilia Ellen Lee
	💍 1915/3319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	5458
Consent	Helena E. C. Kennedy formerly Lee, Mother
Date of Certificate	8 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

153

9 September 1915

John Moore
Sarah Ellen Clark

John Moore
Sarah Ellen Clarke
💍 1915/3314

Widower 6 Nov. 1912
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

61
45

Riverbank Rissington
Hedgeley Eskdale

37 years
16 years

St. Augustines Church Napier

5453

9 September 1915

Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

No	153
Date of Notice	9 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Moore	Sarah Ellen Clark
BDM Match (97%)	John Moore	Sarah Ellen Clarke
	💍 1915/3314
Condition	Widower 6 Nov. 1912	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	61	45
Dwelling Place	Riverbank Rissington	Hedgeley Eskdale
Length of Residence	37 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines Church Napier
Folio	5453
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke Church of England

154

9 September 1915

Albert Roy Goss
Ruby Aileen Montgomery

Albert Roy Goss
Ruby Aileen Montgomery
💍 1915/3315

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

26
22

Napier
Napier

3 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs. Montgomery Battery Road Napier

5454

9 September 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	154
Date of Notice	9 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Roy Goss	Ruby Aileen Montgomery
	💍 1915/3315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Montgomery Battery Road Napier
Folio	5454
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

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).