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 1533

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Daniel O'Monthe

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 October 1915

Harold Walter Cox
Mabel McDonald

Harold Walter Coe
Mabel McDonald
💍 1915/6763

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

26
28

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
3 days

Church of England at Pahiatua

9205

19 October 1915

Rev. L. H. Fenn

No	36
Date of Notice	19 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Walter Cox	Mabel McDonald
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Walter Coe	Mabel McDonald
	💍 1915/6763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England at Pahiatua
Folio	9205
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. H. Fenn

26 November 1915

Walter Hirst
Alice Hannah Sewell

Walter Hirst
Alice Hannah Sewell
💍 1915/6770

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
20

Konini
Konini

20 years
6 years

Methodist Church Pahiatua

9206

Andrew Hughes Sewell, Father

26 November 1915

Rev. R. Richards

No	37
Date of Notice	26 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hirst	Alice Hannah Sewell
	💍 1915/6770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Pahiatua
Folio	9206
Consent	Andrew Hughes Sewell, Father
Date of Certificate	26 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Richards

4 December 1915

Thomas Henry Verry
Ruby Olive Patricia Ruckell

Thomas Henry Verry
Ruby Olive Patricia Ruskell
💍 1915/1167

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
22

Konini
Pahiatua

23 years
7 years

St Peters Church Pahiatua

9260

4 December 1915

Rev. L. H. Fenn

No	38
Date of Notice	4 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Verry	Ruby Olive Patricia Ruckell
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Verry	Ruby Olive Patricia Ruskell
	💍 1915/1167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Konini	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church Pahiatua
Folio	9260
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. H. Fenn

13 December 1915

Austin Alfred King
Annie Ingram

Austin Alfred King
Annie Ingram
💍 1915/6773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

22
22

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
3 weeks

Presbyterian Manse Pahiatua

9209

13 December 1915

Rev. M. Bawden Harris

No	39
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Austin Alfred King	Annie Ingram
	💍 1915/6773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Pahiatua
Folio	9209
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Bawden Harris

14 December 1915

Robert McGowan
Annie Howard

Robert McGowan
Annie Howard
💍 1915/6772

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

51
28

Pori
Mangaramarama

20 years
8 months

Residence of T. P. Darley Mangaramarama

9208

14 December 1915

Rev. M. Bawden Harris

No	40
Date of Notice	14 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McGowan	Annie Howard
	💍 1915/6772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	51	28
Dwelling Place	Pori	Mangaramarama
Length of Residence	20 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Residence of T. P. Darley Mangaramarama
Folio	9208
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Bawden Harris

15 December 1915

William Thomas Carlson
Emily Sarah Hewett

William Thomas Carlson
Emily Sarah Murcott
💍 1915/6771

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill-hand
Housekeeper

26
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
7 days

Presbyterian Church Pahiatua

9207

John Henry Hewett, Father

15 December 1915

Rev. M. Bawden Harris

No	41
Date of Notice	15 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Carlson	Emily Sarah Hewett
BDM Match (87%)	William Thomas Carlson	Emily Sarah Murcott
	💍 1915/6771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill-hand	Housekeeper
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Pahiatua
Folio	9207
Consent	John Henry Hewett, Father
Date of Certificate	15 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Bawden Harris

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).