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 1240

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

140

27 August 1915

John Grammer
Alice Oates

John Grammer
Alice Oates
💍 1915/3299

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Dressmaker

24
26

Napier
Napier

3 days
7 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5462

27 August 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	140
Date of Notice	27 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grammer	Alice Oates
	💍 1915/3299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5462
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

141

30 August 1915

Martin Henry Hartigan
Agnes Aiton Whitaker

Martin Henry Hartigan
Agnes Aiton Whitaker
💍 1915/3230

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Hair Specialist

29
25

Napier
Napier

3 weeks
3 weeks

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5443

30 August 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	141
Date of Notice	30 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Henry Hartigan	Agnes Aiton Whitaker
	💍 1915/3230
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Hair Specialist
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5443
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

142

30 August 1915

Claude Stevens
Annie Mackenzie

Claude Stevens
Annie Mackenzie
💍 1915/3300

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Domestic Duties

28
22

Napier
Napier

28 years
22 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

5463

30 August 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	142
Date of Notice	30 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Stevens	Annie Mackenzie
	💍 1915/3300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	5463
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

143

31 August 1915

Daniel John Butter
Eunice May Spencer

Daniel John Butler
Eunice May Spencer
💍 1915/3296

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

32
17

Waihau, Napier
Waihau, Napier

2 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5451

Charles Lawrence Spencer, father

31 August 1915

Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

No	143
Date of Notice	31 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel John Butter	Eunice May Spencer
BDM Match (97%)	Daniel John Butler	Eunice May Spencer
	💍 1915/3296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Waihau, Napier	Waihau, Napier
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5451
Consent	Charles Lawrence Spencer, father
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

144

1 September 1915

Neville James McKay
Kathleen Mary McGrath

Neville James McKay
Kathleen Mary McGrath
💍 1915/3229

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

24
22

Waipawa
Napier

2 months
8 months

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

5442

1 September 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	144
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neville James McKay	Kathleen Mary McGrath
	💍 1915/3229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Napier
Length of Residence	2 months	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	5442
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).