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 1802

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar J. A. Palliser-Thorpe

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

506

14 June 1915

Henry Robert Nisbet
Violet Hepper

Henry Robert Nisbet
Violet Lepper
💍 1915/777

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

21
21

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
Life

St. James' Church, Wellington

2814

14 June 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	506
Date of Notice	14 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robert Nisbet	Violet Hepper
BDM Match (96%)	Henry Robert Nisbet	Violet Lepper
	💍 1915/777
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. James' Church, Wellington
Folio	2814
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

507

15 June 1915

Isaac Hyams
Isabella Simpson Halley

Isaac Hyams
Isabella Simpson Halley
💍 1915/778

Bachelor
Spinster

Gentleman

54
49

Wellington
Wellington

29 years
14 months

Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington

2815

15 June 1915

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	507
Date of Notice	15 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Hyams	Isabella Simpson Halley
	💍 1915/778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gentleman
Age	54	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	29 years	14 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, 35 Pirie Street, Wellington
Folio	2815
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

508

15 June 1915

William Murray
Maria O'Flaherty

William Murray
Maria O'Flaherty
💍 1915/810

Bachelor
Widow 10 Sept 1912

Contractor

34
37

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
Life

St Joseph's Church, Wellington

2846

15 June 1915

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	508
Date of Notice	15 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Murray	Maria O'Flaherty
	💍 1915/810
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 10 Sept 1912
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	Life
Marriage Place	St Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	2846
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

509

15 June 1915

John William Danby Scott
Mary Ellen Gadd

John William Danbsy-Scott
Mary Ellen Gadd
💍 1915/481

Widower 26/10/1914
Spinster

Painter

31
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
11 years

Residence of Mr J. Gadd, 63 Moxham Avenue, Kilbirnie

2816

15 June 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	509
Date of Notice	15 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Danby Scott	Mary Ellen Gadd
BDM Match (96%)	John William Danbsy-Scott	Mary Ellen Gadd
	💍 1915/481
Condition	Widower 26/10/1914	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Gadd, 63 Moxham Avenue, Kilbirnie
Folio	2816
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

510

16 June 1915

William Crowe
Eleanor Ann Ritson

William Crowe
Eleanor Ann Ritson
💍 1915/780

Widower 8/12/1908
Spinster

Farmer

62
40

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
28 years

Residence of Mr J. Cooper, 18 Percival Street, Wellington

2817

16 June 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	510
Date of Notice	16 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crowe	Eleanor Ann Ritson
	💍 1915/780
Condition	Widower 8/12/1908	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	62	40
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Cooper, 18 Percival Street, Wellington
Folio	2817
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

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).