Intentions to Marry, 1915 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840460, 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.

1915d contains pages 1501-1972, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1511

District of Ohakune Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar John Alexander Herd

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

5 January 1915

Henry Barnby
Helen Grace Presnell

Henry Barnby
Helen Grace Presnell
💍 1915/8834

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
41

Ohakune
Ohakune

2 years
5 years

Henry Dance's residence, Ohakune

1100

5 January 1915

James Fordyce

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Barnby	Helen Grace Presnell
	💍 1915/8834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	41
Dwelling Place	Ohakune	Ohakune
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Henry Dance's residence, Ohakune
Folio	1100
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1915
Officiating Minister	James Fordyce

11 March 1915

Edward Trotman
Annie Bolton

Edward Trotman
Annie Bolton
💍 1915/8950

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic duties

25
27

Ohakune
Ohakune

3 months
3 days

Rev Ernest Edward Smith's residence, Ohakune

1099

11 March 1915

Ernest Edward Smith

No	2
Date of Notice	11 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Trotman	Annie Bolton
	💍 1915/8950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Ohakune	Ohakune
Length of Residence	3 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Rev Ernest Edward Smith's residence, Ohakune
Folio	1099
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Ernest Edward Smith

15 March 1915

Edward John Barry
Eileen Agatha Walsh

Edward John Barry
Eileen Agatha Walsh
💍 1915/8949

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic duties

25
20

Ohakune
Ohakune

2 1/4 years
8 years

St Josephs Roman Catholic Church, Ohakune

1098

Mary Walsh

15 March 1915

Louis Joseph Menard

No	3
Date of Notice	15 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Barry	Eileen Agatha Walsh
	💍 1915/8949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Ohakune	Ohakune
Length of Residence	2 1/4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Josephs Roman Catholic Church, Ohakune
Folio	1098
Consent	Mary Walsh
Date of Certificate	15 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Louis Joseph Menard

15 March 1915

George William Lawrence Palmer
Charlotte Sexton

George William Lawrence Palmer
Charlotte Sexton
💍 1915/513

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Shop assistant

24
24

Rangataua
Rangataua

1 1/2 years
2 1/2 years

St James' Hall, Rangataua

2589

15 March 1915

Alfred Douglas Mitchell

No	4
Date of Notice	15 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Lawrence Palmer	Charlotte Sexton
	💍 1915/513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Shop assistant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Rangataua	Rangataua
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St James' Hall, Rangataua
Folio	2589
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Alfred Douglas Mitchell

30 March 1915

James Cosford
Mabel Pankhurst Wood

James Cosford
Mabel Pankhurst Wood
💍 1915/514

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Household duties

27
19

Ohakune
Ohakune

6 years
5 years

St Johns church, Ohakune

2590

Edward Pankhurst Wood

30 March 1915

John Charles Abbott

No	5
Date of Notice	30 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cosford	Mabel Pankhurst Wood
	💍 1915/514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Household duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Ohakune	Ohakune
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns church, Ohakune
Folio	2590
Consent	Edward Pankhurst Wood
Date of Certificate	30 March 1915
Officiating Minister	John Charles Abbott

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).