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 1557

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

24 July 1915

Harry Bruce Smart
Ruby Clarice Fischer

Harry Bruce Smart
Ruby Clarice Fischer
💍 1915/3590

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor's Assistant
Governess

21
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

Residence of C. O. Fischer, Grey Street, Palmerston North

5681

24 July 1915

F. W. Boys, Methodist

No	93
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Bruce Smart	Ruby Clarice Fischer
	💍 1915/3590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor's Assistant	Governess
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of C. O. Fischer, Grey Street, Palmerston North
Folio	5681
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	F. W. Boys, Methodist

24 July 1915

Albert Tregurtha
Bernice Eglinton

Bachelor
Spinster

Decorator
Domestic duties

27
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

11 years
15 years

St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North

5675

24 July 1915

F. W. Boys, Methodist

No	94
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Tregurtha	Bernice Eglinton
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Decorator	Domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	11 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	5675
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	F. W. Boys, Methodist

24 July 1915

Frederick Haley
Louisa Victoria Ackermann

Frederick Haley
Louisa Victoria Ackermann
💍 1915/3489

Bachelor
Spinster

Haircutter
Domestic duties

28
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 days
6 months

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

5629

24 July 1915

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	95
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Haley	Louisa Victoria Ackermann
	💍 1915/3489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Haircutter	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	5629
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

24 July 1915

Ernest Albert Mullins
Sophia Anne Kirkwood

Ernest Albert Mullins
Sophia Anne Kirkwood
💍 1915/3495

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic duties

26
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years
2 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

5660

24 July 1915

H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Mullins	Sophia Anne Kirkwood
	💍 1915/3495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	5660
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

26 July 1915

Henry John Salmonds
Ethel Maud Kerrison

Henry John Salmons
Ethel Maude Kerrison
💍 1915/3587

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese Factory Manager
Waitress

32
22

Tiakitahuna
Palmerston North

6 weeks
12 months

Residence of Mr J. Lomas, Awapuni

5678

27 July 1915

Alex Doull, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Salmonds	Ethel Maud Kerrison
BDM Match (95%)	Henry John Salmons	Ethel Maude Kerrison
	💍 1915/3587
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Factory Manager	Waitress
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Tiakitahuna	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 weeks	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Lomas, Awapuni
Folio	5678
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Alex Doull, Presbyterian

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).