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 1144

District of Manaia Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar H. Dixon

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

27 May 1915

George Frederick Donaldson Scott
Olive Alice Surman

George Frederick Donaldson Scott
Olive Alice Swiman
💍 1915/1501

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Nurse

32
26

Manaia
Manaia

7 days
9 months

Presbyterian Manse Manaia

3395

27 May 1915

Rev'd W H Howes, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	27 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Donaldson Scott	Olive Alice Surman
BDM Match (94%)	George Frederick Donaldson Scott	Olive Alice Swiman
	💍 1915/1501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Nurse
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	7 days	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Manaia
Folio	3395
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev'd W H Howes, Presbyterian

4 June 1915

Douglass Wallace Masterson
Frances March

Douglass Wallace Masterson
Eleanor Frances Marsh
💍 1915/1297

Bachelor
Spinster

Gunner N.Z. Field Artillery
Domestic

24
25

Manaia
Manaia

1 week
9 months

Anglican Church Manaia

3188

4 June 1915

Rev'd A. T. B. Page, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglass Wallace Masterson	Frances March
BDM Match (79%)	Douglass Wallace Masterson	Eleanor Frances Marsh
	💍 1915/1297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gunner N.Z. Field Artillery	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	1 week	9 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Manaia
Folio	3188
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev'd A. T. B. Page, Church of England

9 June 1915

Jacob Emil Meuli
Jessie Gross

Jacob Emil Meuli
Jessie Gross
💍 1915/1861

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
29

Manaia
Palmerston North

27 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

3710

9 June 1915

Rev'd W H Howes, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	9 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jacob Emil Meuli	Jessie Gross
	💍 1915/1861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	27 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	3710
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev'd W H Howes, Presbyterian

10 June 1915

James Hornby
Gwynneth Frances White

James Hornby
Gwynneth Frances White
💍 1915/1499

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Domestic

24
25

Manaia
Manaia

5 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church Manaia

3394

10 June 1915

Rev'd W J Saunderson, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	10 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hornby	Gwynneth Frances White
	💍 1915/1499
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Manaia
Folio	3394
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev'd W J Saunderson, Roman Catholic

15 June 1915

Alfred Walter Curry
Elizabeth Ferguson

Albert Walter Curry
Elizabeth Ferguson
💍 1915/3202

Bachelor
Spinster

Waggoner
Domestic

25
22

Manaia
Okaiawa

15 months
8 years

Presbyterian Church Okaiawa

5390

15 June 1915

Rev'd J W Butler, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	15 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Walter Curry	Elizabeth Ferguson
BDM Match (89%)	Albert Walter Curry	Elizabeth Ferguson
	💍 1915/3202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waggoner	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Okaiawa
Length of Residence	15 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Okaiawa
Folio	5390
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev'd J W Butler, Methodist

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).