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 1956

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. H. Cleenthorpe

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

1271

21 December 1915

Herbert Hugh William Toll
Ida Etchells

Herbert Hugh William Toll
Ida Etchells
💍 1916/8699

Bachelor
Widow 9 May 1913

Draper

31
28

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

4 yrs
9 yrs

Residence of mr. H. W. Toll, 192 Hanson Street Wellington

410

21 December 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	1271
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hugh William Toll	Ida Etchells
	💍 1916/8699
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 9 May 1913
Profession	Draper
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	4 yrs	9 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of mr. H. W. Toll, 192 Hanson Street Wellington
Folio	410
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

1272

21 December 1915

Alfred Linwood
Jeanie Guthrie Mearns

Alfred Linwood
Jennie Guthrie Mearns
💍 1915/5155

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
19

Tauherenikau
Lower Hutt

3 mos.
9 days

Congregational Manse, Alicetown, Lower Hutt

7497

John Mearns father

21 December 1915

Rev. J. G. Gibson

No	1272
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Linwood	Jeanie Guthrie Mearns
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Linwood	Jennie Guthrie Mearns
	💍 1915/5155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Tauherenikau	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 mos.	9 days
Marriage Place	Congregational Manse, Alicetown, Lower Hutt
Folio	7497
Consent	John Mearns father
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Gibson

1273

21 December 1915

George Valentine Lambert
Emma Evaline Smith

George Valentine Lambert
Emma Evaline Smith
💍 1915/5156

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
27

Tauherenikau member N.Z. Expeditionary Force
Wellington

7 days
7 days

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street Wellington

7498

21 December 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	1273
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Valentine Lambert	Emma Evaline Smith
	💍 1915/5156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Tauherenikau member N.Z. Expeditionary Force	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street Wellington
Folio	7498
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

1274

21 December 1915

Benjamin McLeod
Josephina Campbell

Benjamin McLeod
Josephina Campbell
💍 1915/1015

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

26
24

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

2 wks
1 day from Scotland

Registrar's Office Wellington

7094

21 December 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	1274
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin McLeod	Josephina Campbell
	💍 1915/1015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	2 wks	1 day from Scotland
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	7094
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

1275

21 December 1915

Francis John Musket
Rhoda Forbes

Francis John Mushet
Rhoda Forbes
💍 1915/5157

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

28
29

WELLINGTON
WELLINGTON

11 yrs.
13 yrs.

St. Peter's Church Wellington

7499

21 December 1915

Rev. H. Watson

No	1275
Date of Notice	21 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Musket	Rhoda Forbes
BDM Match (97%)	Francis John Mushet	Rhoda Forbes
	💍 1915/5157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	WELLINGTON	WELLINGTON
Length of Residence	11 yrs.	13 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	7499
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

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).