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 1820

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. H. Packthorpe

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

593

13 July 1915

Basil Faraday Collier
Dora Lilian Barter

Basil Faraday Collier
Cora Lilian Carter
💍 1915/3633

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

26
25

Wellington
Wellington

6 mos.
1 day from Sydney

St. Peter's Church Wellington

5798

13 July 1915

Archdn. B. B. Harper

No	593
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Faraday Collier	Dora Lilian Barter
BDM Match (94%)	Basil Faraday Collier	Cora Lilian Carter
	💍 1915/3633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 mos.	1 day from Sydney
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Wellington
Folio	5798
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Archdn. B. B. Harper

594

13 July 1915

Charles William Ernest Zornoshky, commonly known as Tolley
Olivia Asher

Charles William Ernest Tolley
Olivia Asher
💍 1915/3634

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

24
21

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
5 yrs.

St. James' Church Wellington

5799

13 July 1915

Rev. W. Shirer

No	594
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Ernest Zornoshky, commonly known as Tolley	Olivia Asher
BDM Match (75%)	Charles William Ernest Tolley	Olivia Asher
	💍 1915/3634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	5 yrs.
Marriage Place	St. James' Church Wellington
Folio	5799
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

595

13 July 1915

Alexander Watson
Mary Paul Menzies

Alexander Watson
Mary Paul Menzies
💍 1915/3635

Widower 12 Oct 1913
Spinster

Stationmaster

51
47

Dannevirke
Wellington

2 mos.
9 days

Residence of C. Piper Junr, Thomson St. Wellington

5800

13 July 1915

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	595
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Watson	Mary Paul Menzies
	💍 1915/3635
Condition	Widower 12 Oct 1913	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster
Age	51	47
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 mos.	9 days
Marriage Place	Residence of C. Piper Junr, Thomson St. Wellington
Folio	5800
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

596

13 July 1915

Albert Comfort
May Hart

Albert Comfort
May Hart
💍 1915/3548

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

27
24

Kilbirnie
Mitchelltown

5 mos.
Life

All Saints Church Room Kilbirnie

5713

13 July 1915

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	596
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Comfort	May Hart
	💍 1915/3548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Mitchelltown
Length of Residence	5 mos.	Life
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Room Kilbirnie
Folio	5713
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

597

13 July 1915

Henry Gundesen
Margaret Eileen Barrett

Henry Gundesen
Margaret Eileen Barrett
💍 1915/14484

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

23
23

Wellington
Wellington

18 mos.
20 yrs.

Registrar's Office Wellington

4542

13 July 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	597
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gundesen	Margaret Eileen Barrett
	💍 1915/14484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	18 mos.	20 yrs.
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	4542
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

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).