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 1775

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. A. Thomsen

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

371

29 April 1915

Harry John Braddock
Margaret Ellen Hill

Harry John Langley Braddock
Margaret Ellen Hill
💍 1915/13583

Bachelor
Spinster

Runner

26
24

Somes Island
Wellington

2 1/2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

2000

29 April 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	371
Date of Notice	29 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry John Braddock	Margaret Ellen Hill
BDM Match (85%)	Harry John Langley Braddock	Margaret Ellen Hill
	💍 1915/13583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Runner
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Somes Island	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	2000
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

372

29 April 1915

Thomas Martin Roe
Sarah McCormick

Thomas Martin Roe
Sarah McCormick
💍 1915/806

Bachelor
Spinster

Upholsterer

30
26

Wellington
Wellington

16 months
4 years

St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington

2843

29 April 1915

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	372
Date of Notice	29 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Martin Roe	Sarah McCormick
	💍 1915/806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Upholsterer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, Wellington
Folio	2843
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

373

30 April 1915

Albert Edward Daly
Lillian Reary

Albert Edward Daly
Lillian Reay
💍 1915/845

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant

21
24

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
1 year

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

2859

30 April 1915

Rev. A. Venning

No	373
Date of Notice	30 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Daly	Lillian Reary
BDM Match (96%)	Albert Edward Daly	Lillian Reay
	💍 1915/845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	2859
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Venning

374

1 May 1915

Joseph Press
Margaret Stickey

Joseph Ivess
Margaret Stuckey
💍 1915/9277

Joseph Downes
Margaret Grace
💍 1915/3954

Divorced Decree Absolute 25 Nov 1898
Widow 5 July 1913

Boot Tender

48
43

Wellington
Wellington

4 months
3 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

2001

1 May 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	374
Date of Notice	1 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Press	Margaret Stickey
BDM Match (89%)	Joseph Ivess	Margaret Stuckey
	💍 1915/9277
BDM Match (65%)	Joseph Downes	Margaret Grace
	💍 1915/3954
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 25 Nov 1898	Widow 5 July 1913
Profession	Boot Tender
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	2001
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

375

May 1915

George Cornelius Shaw
Emily Sarah Harris

George Cornelius Shaw
Emily Sarah Harris
💍 1915/9288

Widower 24 Nov 1912
Widow 9 Mar 1914

Carpenter

54
54

Trentham
Wellington

4 months
4 days

Registrar's Office, Wellington

2002

May 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	375
Date of Notice	May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Cornelius Shaw	Emily Sarah Harris
	💍 1915/9288
Condition	Widower 24 Nov 1912	Widow 9 Mar 1914
Profession	Carpenter
Age	54	54
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	2002
Consent
Date of Certificate	May 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).