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 1923

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. W. Blackthorpe

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

1106

12 November 1915

James Charles Evenden
Lavinia Leaze

James Charles Evenden
Lavinia Teaze
💍 1915/5033

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist's Assistant

22
23

Tauherenikau (member N. Z. Expeditionary Forces)
Wellington

3 weeks
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn

7350

12 November 1915

Rev. B. Hutson

No	1106
Date of Notice	12 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Charles Evenden	Lavinia Leaze
BDM Match (96%)	James Charles Evenden	Lavinia Teaze
	💍 1915/5033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist's Assistant
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Tauherenikau (member N. Z. Expeditionary Forces)	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 weeks	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn
Folio	7350
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson

1107

13 November 1915

Alfred John Behrn
Florence Clare Hurey

Alfred John Beken
Florence Clare Hurly
💍 1915/4794

Alfred John Rookes
Florence Mary Rice
💍 1915/6411

Alfred John Kendall
Florence May Morgan
💍 1916/378

Bachelor
Spinster

Fettler

24
23

Petone
Petone

6 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7068

13 November 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1107
Date of Notice	13 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Behrn	Florence Clare Hurey
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred John Beken	Florence Clare Hurly
	💍 1915/4794
BDM Match (66%)	Alfred John Rookes	Florence Mary Rice
	💍 1915/6411
BDM Match (62%)	Alfred John Kendall	Florence May Morgan
	💍 1916/378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fettler
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Petone	Petone
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7068
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1108

13 November 1915

Leonard Sinclair Thompson
Mary Elma Holmes

Leonard Sinclair Thompson
Mary Elma Holmes
💍 1915/5035

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

31
24

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
15 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7351

13 November 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	1108
Date of Notice	13 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Sinclair Thompson	Mary Elma Holmes
	💍 1915/5035
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7351
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

1109

13 November 1915

Clarence John Ralph
Elin Elsie Jacobson

Clarence John Ralph
Elin Elfie Jacobson
💍 1915/5036

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

7352

13 November 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	1109
Date of Notice	13 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence John Ralph	Elin Elsie Jacobson
BDM Match (97%)	Clarence John Ralph	Elin Elfie Jacobson
	💍 1915/5036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	7352
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

1110

13 November 1915

William Ferdinand McKenzie Ponder
Lillian Dorothy Ball

William Ferdward McKenzie Ponder
Lillian Dorothy Ball
💍 1915/5037

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Manager

33
17

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
7 years

Methodist Parsonage, Laing's Road, Lower Hutt

7353

Lillian Maude Ball, mother

13 November 1915

Rev. W. Beckett

No	1110
Date of Notice	13 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ferdinand McKenzie Ponder	Lillian Dorothy Ball
BDM Match (95%)	William Ferdward McKenzie Ponder	Lillian Dorothy Ball
	💍 1915/5037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Manager
Age	33	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Laing's Road, Lower Hutt
Folio	7353
Consent	Lillian Maude Ball, mother
Date of Certificate	13 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beckett

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).