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 1793

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. L. Palethorpe

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

461

2 June 1915

George Ryrie Terry
Edith Maria Walters

George Ryrie Terry
Edith Maria Walters
💍 1915/773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
30

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
2 days (from Sydney)

St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

2802

2 June 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	461
Date of Notice	2 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ryrie Terry	Edith Maria Walters
	💍 1915/773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	2 days (from Sydney)
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	2802
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

462

4 June 1915

Edwin Cathcart Wilson
Dorothy Alice Bowell

Edwin Cathcart Wilson
Dorothy Alice Bowell
💍 1915/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

19
19

Petone
Lower Hutt

15 months
8 months

Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt

2872

no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent

18 June 1915

Rev. J. McCaw

No	462
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Cathcart Wilson	Dorothy Alice Bowell
	💍 1915/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Petone	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	15 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Lower Hutt
Folio	2872
Consent	no person in New Zealand having authority by law to give consent
Date of Certificate	18 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw

463

4 June 1915

William Wilson
Lottie Mabel Dixon

William Wilson
Lottie Mabel Dixon
💍 1915/784

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

36
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
12 years

St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington

2803

4 June 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	463
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilson	Lottie Mabel Dixon
	💍 1915/784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	2803
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

464

4 June 1915

Edward Williams Dunne
Annie Frances McDonald

Edward William Dunne
Annie Frances McDonald
💍 1915/1757

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Servant

46
33

Petone
Wellington

18 months
11 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

3605

4 June 1915

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	464
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Williams Dunne	Annie Frances McDonald
BDM Match (98%)	Edward William Dunne	Annie Frances McDonald
	💍 1915/1757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Servant
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	3605
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

465

4 June 1915

Percival Alfred Brooker
Annie Jackson

Percival Alfred Brooker
Annie Jackson
💍 1915/1980

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour Board Employee

35
25

Wellington
Picton

20 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. J. Jackson, Te Awaiti, Picton

3831

4 June 1915

Rev. H. B. W. White

No	465
Date of Notice	4 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Alfred Brooker	Annie Jackson
	💍 1915/1980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour Board Employee
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Picton
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Jackson, Te Awaiti, Picton
Folio	3831
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. W. White

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).