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 1826

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. Palethorpe

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

623

21 July 1915

James Semple
Anna Rushton

James Semple
Anna Rushton
💍 1915/4068

Bachelor
Spinster

Pastry Cook

29
32

Trentham
Gore

6 weeks
3 years

Church of England, Gore

6291

21 July 1915

Rev. W. Wingfield

No	623
Date of Notice	21 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Semple	Anna Rushton
	💍 1915/4068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pastry Cook
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Gore
Length of Residence	6 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gore
Folio	6291
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Wingfield

624

22 July 1915

Henry Ellis Wren
Theresa Laura Knewstub-Brown

Henry Ellis Uren
Theresa Laura Knewstub Brown
💍 1915/14688

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
18

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
3 weeks

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

5820

Rose Patterson, mother

22 July 1915

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	624
Date of Notice	22 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ellis Wren	Theresa Laura Knewstub-Brown
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Ellis Uren	Theresa Laura Knewstub Brown
	💍 1915/14688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	5820
Consent	Rose Patterson, mother
Date of Certificate	22 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

625

22 July 1915

William Beale
Sarah Elizabeth Carlson

William Beale
Sarah Elizabeth Carlson
💍 1915/14689

Widower 28 Jan. 1894
Widow 8 May 1914

Saddler

50
58

Petone
Lower Hutt

15 years
Life

St. David's Church, Petone

5821

22 July 1915

Rev. J. McCaw

No	625
Date of Notice	22 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Beale	Sarah Elizabeth Carlson
	💍 1915/14689
Condition	Widower 28 Jan. 1894	Widow 8 May 1914
Profession	Saddler
Age	50	58
Dwelling Place	Petone	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	15 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Petone
Folio	5821
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw

626

22 July 1915

Jack Cassidy
Gertrude Lucy Bare

Jack Cassidy
Gertrude Lucy Care
💍 1915/14690

Widower 7 Aug. 1905
Spinster

Drill Instructor

38
30

Trentham
Lower Hutt

12 months
18 months

Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt

5822

22 July 1915

Rev. J. McCaw

No	626
Date of Notice	22 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Cassidy	Gertrude Lucy Bare
BDM Match (97%)	Jack Cassidy	Gertrude Lucy Care
	💍 1915/14690
Condition	Widower 7 Aug. 1905	Spinster
Profession	Drill Instructor
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lower Hutt
Folio	5822
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw

627

22 July 1915

Donald Livingston
Lilian Violet Winifred Ochenden

Donald Livingston
Lilian Violet Winifred Ockenden
💍 1915/14691

Widower 1 Jan. 1912
Spinster

Farmer

42
32

Wellington
Wellington

9 days
14 years

Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington

5823

22 July 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	627
Date of Notice	22 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Livingston	Lilian Violet Winifred Ochenden
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Livingston	Lilian Violet Winifred Ockenden
	💍 1915/14691
Condition	Widower 1 Jan. 1912	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kent Terrace, Wellington
Folio	5823
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 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).