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 1855

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. A. Plackthorpe

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

768

31 August 1915

William Robertson Reid
Florence Grace Wright

William Robertson Reid
Florence Grace Wright
💍 1915/3726

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

25
22

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
6 months

Residence of Mr. J. Wright, 89 Grafton Rd., Roseneath

5917

31 August 1915

Rev. H. Beggs

No	768
Date of Notice	31 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robertson Reid	Florence Grace Wright
	💍 1915/3726
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. Wright, 89 Grafton Rd., Roseneath
Folio	5917
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

769

1 September 1915

Henry Farquharson Hamilton Murray
Ellen Emma Mabel Stein

Henry Farquharson Hamilton Murray
Ellen Emma Mabel Stein
💍 1915/2523

Widower 6 January 1914
Widow 14 October 1914

Civil Servant

60
43

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4580

1 September 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	769
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Farquharson Hamilton Murray	Ellen Emma Mabel Stein
	💍 1915/2523
Condition	Widower 6 January 1914	Widow 14 October 1914
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	60	43
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4580
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

770

1 September 1915

Sam Crabtree
Violet May McAlister

Sam Crabtree
Violet May McAlister
💍 1915/2524

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
20

Wellington
Wellington

6 days
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4581

Silas McAlister, father

1 September 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	770
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sam Crabtree	Violet May McAlister
	💍 1915/2524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4581
Consent	Silas McAlister, father
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

771

1 September 1915

Justin McCarthy Power
Minnie McDougall

Justin McCarthy Power
Minnie McDougall
💍 1915/3727

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

23
21

Trentham
Lower Hutt

4 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt

5918

1 September 1915

Rev. T. Walsh

No	771
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Justin McCarthy Power	Minnie McDougall
	💍 1915/3727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	5918
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Walsh

772

1 September 1915

Richard Smyth Gilmour
Mary Jane McDonald

Richard Smyth Gilmour
Mary Jane McDonald
💍 1915/3728

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant

36
32

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
5 years

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

5919

1 September 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	772
Date of Notice	1 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Smyth Gilmour	Mary Jane McDonald
	💍 1915/3728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	5919
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).