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 1174

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar G. W. Gorham

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

13 February 1915

Oscar Albert Jorgensen
Ruth McMillan

Oscar Albert Jorgensen
Ruth McMillan
💍 1915/8798

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect
Nurse

32
19

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 months
3 months

Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke

947

Wilhelmina McMillan, Mother

13 February 1915

A Grant, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	13 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Albert Jorgensen	Ruth McMillan
	💍 1915/8798
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect	Nurse
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke
Folio	947
Consent	Wilhelmina McMillan, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 February 1915
Officiating Minister	A Grant, Presbyterian

23 February 1915

William Arthur Pritchard
Katherine Mabel Bloor

William Arthur Pritchard
Catherine Mabel Bloor
💍 1915/8799

Widower
Spinster

Carrier
Home duties

41
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

9 years
6 months

Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke

948

23 February 1915

A Grant, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	23 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Pritchard	Katherine Mabel Bloor
BDM Match (98%)	William Arthur Pritchard	Catherine Mabel Bloor
	💍 1915/8799
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Home duties
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	9 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke
Folio	948
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1915
Officiating Minister	A Grant, Presbyterian

27 February 1915

Albert Lewis Svensen
Lillian Emily Smith

Albert Lewis Svensen
Lilian Emily Smith
💍 1915/553

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Home duties

25
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

20 years
14 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

2605

27 February 1915

E Robertshawe, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	27 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Lewis Svensen	Lillian Emily Smith
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Lewis Svensen	Lilian Emily Smith
	💍 1915/553
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Home duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	20 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	2605
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1915
Officiating Minister	E Robertshawe, Anglican

16 March 1915

Arthur Norton Garforth
Grace Ethel Vickerstaff

Arthur Norton Garforth
Grace Ethel Vickerstaff
💍 1915/10590

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

22
19

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

14 years
3 years

The residence of W. London, Dannevirke

3198

Sarah London, Mother

16 March 1915

A Grant, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	16 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Norton Garforth	Grace Ethel Vickerstaff
	💍 1915/10590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The residence of W. London, Dannevirke
Folio	3198
Consent	Sarah London, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 March 1915
Officiating Minister	A Grant, Presbyterian

29 March 1915

William Broughton March
Clara Lowe

William Broughton Marsh
Clara Lowe
💍 1915/554

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Home duties

25
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
1 year

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

2606

29 March 1915

E Robertshawe, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	29 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Broughton March	Clara Lowe
BDM Match (98%)	William Broughton Marsh	Clara Lowe
	💍 1915/554
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Home duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	2606
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1915
Officiating Minister	E Robertshawe, Anglican

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).