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 1890

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

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

941

14 October 1915

Clark McConachy
Gertrude Emily Anderson

Clark McConachy
Gertrude Emily Anderson
💍 1915/4896

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiardist

20
19

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
5 weeks

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

7212

Peter Hill McConachy father Bertram Anderson father

14 October 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	941
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clark McConachy	Gertrude Emily Anderson
	💍 1915/4896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiardist
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	7212
Consent	Peter Hill McConachy father Bertram Anderson father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

942

14 October 1915

John Kempthorne
Edythe Genista Harfield

John Kempthorne
Edythe Gerista Harrild
💍 1915/4891

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Salesman

34
34

Wellington
Wellington

7 months
5 months

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7208

14 October 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	942
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Kempthorne	Edythe Genista Harfield
BDM Match (94%)	John Kempthorne	Edythe Gerista Harrild
	💍 1915/4891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7208
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

943

14 October 1915

Albert James Potier
Florence Griffiths

Albert James Potier
Florence Griffiths
💍 1915/4892

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

32
27

Wellington
Wellington

9 years
3 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

7209

14 October 1915

Rev. E. J. Sola

No	943
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Potier	Florence Griffiths
	💍 1915/4892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	7209
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Sola

944

14 October 1915

John Fisher
Sarah Beattie

John Fisher
Sarah Beattie
💍 1915/4756

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

7024

14 October 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	944
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fisher	Sarah Beattie
	💍 1915/4756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	7024
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

945

14 October 1915

John Richardson Sweeney
Mary Parry

John Richardson Sweney
Mary Parry
💍 1915/4893

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist

33
33

Wellington
Wellington

2 weeks
3 days

St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7210

14 October 1915

Rev. A. G. H. Seaton

No	945
Date of Notice	14 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richardson Sweeney	Mary Parry
BDM Match (98%)	John Richardson Sweney	Mary Parry
	💍 1915/4893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7210
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. H. Seaton

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).