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 1228

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

19 April 1915

William James Anderson
Hannah Eliza Lewis

William James Anderson
Hannah Eliza Lewis
💍 1915/10781

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Housemaid

31
33

Napier
Napier

3 years
3 years

St. Pauls Church Napier

3465

19 April 1915

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	19 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Anderson	Hannah Eliza Lewis
	💍 1915/10781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Housemaid
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church Napier
Folio	3465
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

19 April 1915

Ernest Groome
Marjorie Macniven

Ernest Groome
Marjorie Macniven
💍 1915/1624

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

31
20

Napier
Clive

5 days
15 years

Church of England Clive

3469

John Hutchinson Macniven, Father

19 April 1915

Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

No	85
Date of Notice	19 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Groome	Marjorie Macniven
	💍 1915/1624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	5 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Clive
Folio	3469
Consent	John Hutchinson Macniven, Father
Date of Certificate	19 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

20 April 1915

Timothy Joseph Morrison
Margaret Mary O'Connor

Timothy Joseph Morrison
Margaret Mary O'Connor
💍 1915/1639

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

28
23

Napier
Napier

5 days
23 years

St. Patricks Church Napier

3501

20 April 1915

Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

No	86
Date of Notice	20 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Joseph Morrison	Margaret Mary O'Connor
	💍 1915/1639
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church Napier
Folio	3501
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Sullivan, Roman Catholic

20 April 1915

William Henry Jones
Agnes Catherine Stansbury M.N. Cole

William Henry Jones
Agnes Catherine Stansbury
💍 1915/1623

William Henry Jones
Henrietta Osborne Halliday
💍 1915/13946

Bachelor
Widow (9th December 1903)

Instructor Defence Dept.
Accountant

23
37

Napier
Napier

3 weeks
3 days

St Augustines' Church, Napier.

3468

20 April 1915

Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

No	87
Date of Notice	20 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jones	Agnes Catherine Stansbury M.N. Cole
BDM Match (86%)	William Henry Jones	Agnes Catherine Stansbury
	💍 1915/1623
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Jones	Henrietta Osborne Halliday
	💍 1915/13946
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (9th December 1903)
Profession	Instructor Defence Dept.	Accountant
Age	23	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	St Augustines' Church, Napier.
Folio	3468
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Luke, Church of England

21 April 1915

Warwick Gumbley
Hilda Mary Ellen Howarth

Warwick Gumbley
Hilda Mary Ellen Howarth
💍 1915/1621

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Lady Help

25
24

Petane
Taradale

10 days
2 years

Omahu Church Fernhill

3466

21 April 1915

Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

No	88
Date of Notice	21 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Warwick Gumbley	Hilda Mary Ellen Howarth
	💍 1915/1621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Lady Help
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Petane	Taradale
Length of Residence	10 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Omahu Church Fernhill
Folio	3466
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke, Church of England

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).