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 1595

District of Raetihi Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar A. W. Ashwell

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

105

06 July 1915

William Henry Douglas
Ellen Eliza Pedersen

William Henry Douglas
Ellen Eliza Pedersen
💍 1915/3578

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill Hand
Domestic duties

21
16

Raetihi
Raetihi

2 years
3 years

Registrar's Office Raetihi

5693

Peter Pedersen, Father of Bride

06 July 1915

A. W. Ashwell

No	105
Date of Notice	06 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Douglas	Ellen Eliza Pedersen
	💍 1915/3578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Domestic duties
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Raetihi
Folio	5693
Consent	Peter Pedersen, Father of Bride
Date of Certificate	06 July 1915
Officiating Minister	A. W. Ashwell

106

03 August 1915

William Quinlan
Rosa Marion Tylee

William Quinn
Rosa Marion Tylee
💍 1915/3579

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

35
33

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 days
10 years

Residence of Mrs Tylee Raetihi

5694

03 August 1915

Rev. Father Menard

No	106
Date of Notice	03 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Quinlan	Rosa Marion Tylee
BDM Match (93%)	William Quinn	Rosa Marion Tylee
	💍 1915/3579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Tylee Raetihi
Folio	5694
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Menard

107

14 August 1915

Alfred Charles Barker
Ida Walker

Alfred Charles Barker
Ida Walker
💍 1915/3577

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic duties

30
21

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 1/2 years
11 years

Anglican Church Raetihi

5692

17 August 1915

Rev. J. C. Abbott

No	107
Date of Notice	14 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Charles Barker	Ida Walker
	💍 1915/3577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Raetihi
Folio	5692
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Abbott

108

17 August 1915

William Alexander Canty
Mary Eliza Warner

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
22

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 months
11 years

Mrs Warner's Residence Pukekaha Raetihi

8399

19 August 1915

Rev. J. C. Abbott

No	108
Date of Notice	17 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Canty	Mary Eliza Warner
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Mrs Warner's Residence Pukekaha Raetihi
Folio	8399
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Abbott

109

03 September 1915

Thomas Wilson Cummins
Helen May Vile

Thomas Wilson Cummins
Helen May Vile
💍 1915/3380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

27
27

Raetihi
Eketahuna

6 years

St Cuthbert's Church Eketahuna

5543

03 September 1915

Rev. Herbert Albert Walker

No	109
Date of Notice	03 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Wilson Cummins	Helen May Vile
	💍 1915/3380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Eketahuna
Length of Residence	6 years
Marriage Place	St Cuthbert's Church Eketahuna
Folio	5543
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert Albert Walker

110

24 September 1915

David Pierson
Polly Gray

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Raetihi
Raetihi

3 years
21 years

Registrar's Office Raetihi

Not Solemnised see attached

24 September 1915

A. W. Ashwell

No	110
Date of Notice	24 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Pierson	Polly Gray
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Raetihi	Raetihi
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Raetihi
Folio	Not Solemnised see attached
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1915
Officiating Minister	A. W. Ashwell

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).