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 1232

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

104

31 May 1915

Charles Vigor Brown
Mary Watt

Charles Vigor Brown
Mary Watt
💍 1915/10659

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typist

26
27

Napier
Napier

26 years
3 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

3451

31 May 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	104
Date of Notice	31 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Vigor Brown	Mary Watt
	💍 1915/10659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typist
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	3451
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

105

1 June 1915

Charles Camden Howard
Margaret Mary Allen

Charles Camden Howard
Margaret Mary Allen
💍 1915/1659

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housemaid

28
22

Taradale
Taradale

28 years
4 years

St Joseph's Church, Meeanee

3505

1 June 1915

Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

No	105
Date of Notice	1 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Camden Howard	Margaret Mary Allen
	💍 1915/1659
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housemaid
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	28 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Meeanee
Folio	3505
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Goggan, Roman Catholic

106

1 June 1915

Arthur Reid
May Sorell Sorrell

Arthur Reid
May Sovell
💍 1915/10793

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Photographer

31
33

Napier
Napier

3 days
30 years

St Augustine's Church, Napier

3453

1 June 1915

Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

No	106
Date of Notice	1 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reid	May Sorell Sorrell
BDM Match (75%)	Arthur Reid	May Sovell
	💍 1915/10793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Photographer
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	St Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	3453
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Tuke, Church of England

107

4 June 1915

Stanley Fred Paul
Karina Clarence Clayton

Stanley Fred Paul
Karina Clarence Clayton
💍 1915/4513

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher (Soldier)
Nurse

23
21

Napier
Napier

3 years
8 months

St John's Cathedral, Napier

6738

4 June 1915

Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

No	107
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Fred Paul	Karina Clarence Clayton
	💍 1915/4513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher (Soldier)	Nurse
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	6738
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Mayne, Church of England

108

10 June 1915

Philip John Scullin
Catherine Hanna O'Shannassy

Philip John Scullin
Catherine Hanna O'Shanrassy
💍 1915/10920

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Domestic

32
35

Meeanee
Taradale

32 years
35 years

St Patrick's Church, Napier

3504

10 June 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	108
Date of Notice	10 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip John Scullin	Catherine Hanna O'Shannassy
BDM Match (98%)	Philip John Scullin	Catherine Hanna O'Shanrassy
	💍 1915/10920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Domestic
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Meeanee	Taradale
Length of Residence	32 years	35 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	3504
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

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).