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 1886

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

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

921

11 October 1915

Joseph Boyd
Jessie Dick

Joseph Boyd
Jessie Dick
💍 1915/4903

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

59
45

Ohau
Wellington

4 years
1 month

Residence of Mr. J. G. Reid, 38 Raroa Road, Kelburn

7196

11 October 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	921
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Boyd	Jessie Dick
	💍 1915/4903
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	59	45
Dwelling Place	Ohau	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. J. G. Reid, 38 Raroa Road, Kelburn
Folio	7196
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

922

11 October 1915

William Athol Spenser de Capell Mills
Kathleen Janet Mills
formerly Bulkley

William Athol Spencer de Capell Mills
Kathleen Janet Mills
💍 1915/4904

Previously married 19/11/1914
Previously married 19/11/1914

Engineer

32
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington

7197

11 October 1915

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	922
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Athol Spenser de Capell Mills	Kathleen Janet Mills formerly Bulkley
BDM Match (99%)	William Athol Spencer de Capell Mills	Kathleen Janet Mills
	💍 1915/4904
Condition	Previously married 19/11/1914	Previously married 19/11/1914
Profession	Engineer
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral, Wellington
Folio	7197
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

923

11 October 1915

Robert Milen Wakefield
Myrtle Hobbs

Robert Milen Wekefield
Myrtle Hobbs
💍 1915/4905

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

23
18

Lower Hutt
Lower Hutt

13 years
18 years

Knox Church, Lower Hutt

7198

Christopher Robinson Hobbs, father

11 October 1915

Rev. J. Mc Caw

No	923
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Milen Wakefield	Myrtle Hobbs
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Milen Wekefield	Myrtle Hobbs
	💍 1915/4905
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	13 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	7198
Consent	Christopher Robinson Hobbs, father
Date of Certificate	11 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mc Caw

924

11 October 1915

William Peters
May Russell

William Peters
May Russell
💍 1915/4906

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder

26
26

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
Life

Residence of Mr. Russell, 162 Russell Terrace, Wellington

7199

11 October 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	924
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Peters	May Russell
	💍 1915/4906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Russell, 162 Russell Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7199
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

925

11 October 1915

Harvey Watson Ferrar
Florence Edith Alice Emmins

Harvey Watson Ferrar
Florence Edith Alice Emmins
💍 1915/4907

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouse Clerk

27
24

Wellington
Wellington

14 months
13 months

Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale, 13 Manly Terrace, Wellington

7200

11 October 1915

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	925
Date of Notice	11 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey Watson Ferrar	Florence Edith Alice Emmins
	💍 1915/4907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouse Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 months	13 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. G. E. Hale, 13 Manly Terrace, Wellington
Folio	7200
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

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).