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 1238

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

130

6 August 1915

Wallace Alfred Edwards
Blanche Matilda May Wilson

Wallace Alfred Edwards
Blanche Matilda May Wilson
💍 1915/5655

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Agent
Domestic Duties

25
20

Napier
Napier

2 years
20 years

St John's Cathedral Napier

7991

Alfred Henry Wilson, Father

6 August 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	130
Date of Notice	6 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Alfred Edwards	Blanche Matilda May Wilson
	💍 1915/5655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral Napier
Folio	7991
Consent	Alfred Henry Wilson, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

131

6 August 1915

Ernest Hall
Emily Christina Brink

Ernest Hall
Emily Christina Brink
💍 1915/3304

Bachelor
Spinster

Woolclasser
Domestic Duties

34
27

Napier
Napier

8 years
3 days

St Augustine's Church Napier

5467

6 August 1915

Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

No	131
Date of Notice	6 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Hall	Emily Christina Brink
	💍 1915/3304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	Domestic Duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5467
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

132

9 August 1915

Charles Frederick Edgeler
Mary Ellen Fitzgibbons

Charles Frederick Edgeler
Mary Ellen Fitzgibbons
💍 1915/3308

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic Duties

26
25

Napier
Napier

4 days
12 years

St Augustine's Church Napier

5470

9 August 1915

Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

No	132
Date of Notice	9 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Edgeler	Mary Ellen Fitzgibbons
	💍 1915/3308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5470
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

133

9 August 1915

Percival Moore Beattie
Annie Henrietta Clark

Percival Moore Beattie
Annie Henrietta Clark
💍 1915/3297

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

27
33

Eskdale
Eskdale

8 years
15 years

St Andrew's Church Port Ahuriri

5460

9 August 1915

Rev. Oliver Dean, Church of England

No	133
Date of Notice	9 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Moore Beattie	Annie Henrietta Clark
	💍 1915/3297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Eskdale	Eskdale
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Church Port Ahuriri
Folio	5460
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Oliver Dean, Church of England

134

16 August 1915

Arthur James Reynolds Ruff
Violet Elizabeth Evans

Arthur James Reynolds Ruff
Violet Elizabeth Evans
💍 1915/3234

Bachelor
Divorced 15th July 1915

Baker
Domestic Duties

25
27

Napier
Napier

5 days
5 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier

5446

16 August 1915

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	134
Date of Notice	16 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Reynolds Ruff	Violet Elizabeth Evans
	💍 1915/3234
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 15th July 1915
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Napier
Folio	5446
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

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).