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 1539

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar C. Ashworth

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

9 March 1915

Robert Blair
Jessie Low

Robert Blair
Jessie Low
💍 1915/8978

Bachelor
Spinster

Sunday School Extension Agent
Teacher

33
46

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

1130

9 March 1915

Rev John McCaw Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Blair	Jessie Low
	💍 1915/8978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sunday School Extension Agent	Teacher
Age	33	46
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	1130
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev John McCaw Presbyterian

10 March 1915

William Stephen Woodroofe
Margaret Alice Ashworth

William Stephen Woodroofe
Margaret Alice Ashworth
💍 1915/8848

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Clerk

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

27 years
2 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North

1122

10 March 1915

Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

No	22
Date of Notice	10 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephen Woodroofe	Margaret Alice Ashworth
	💍 1915/8848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North
Folio	1122
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

10 March 1915

Herbert James Woodroofe
Doris Baker

Herbert James Woodroofe
Doris Baker
💍 1915/8836

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dressmaker

25
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
23 years

Baptist Church St East Palmerston North

1111

10 March 1915

Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

No	23
Date of Notice	10 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Woodroofe	Doris Baker
	💍 1915/8836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church St East Palmerston North
Folio	1111
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

22 March 1915

Sydney Smith
Grace Wiles

Sydney Smith
Grace Wiles
💍 1915/13039

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Dressmaker

24
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 months
6 weeks

All Saints Anglican Church Palmerston North

1119

22 March 1915

Rev H. G. Rosher Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	22 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Smith	Grace Wiles
	💍 1915/13039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Dressmaker
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	6 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Anglican Church Palmerston North
Folio	1119
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Rosher Anglican

25 March 1915

Charles William Benson
Cecile Margaret Lovely

Charles William Denson
Cecile Margaret Clevely
💍 1915/8843

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

22
24

Palmerston North
Bunnythorpe

22 years
24 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church Palmerston North

1118

25 March 1915

Rev J. H. Haslam Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	25 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Benson	Cecile Margaret Lovely
BDM Match (91%)	Charles William Denson	Cecile Margaret Clevely
	💍 1915/8843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	22 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church Palmerston North
Folio	1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. H. Haslam 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).