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 1730

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar G. H. Penlington

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

156

23 February 1915

John Bresnehan
Edith Martha Andrews

John Bresnehan
Edith Martha Andrews
💍 1915/7655

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

31
22

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
12 years

All Saints Church, Kilbirnie

321

23 February 1915

Rev. H. G. Blackburne

No	156
Date of Notice	23 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bresnehan	Edith Martha Andrews
	💍 1915/7655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Kilbirnie
Folio	321
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne

157

23 February 1915

Edward Barwood
Nancy Brewer

Edward Harwood
Nancy Blewer
💍 1915/358

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor

23
24

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
1 day

Registrar's Office, Wellington

141

23 February 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	157
Date of Notice	23 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Barwood	Nancy Brewer
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Harwood	Nancy Blewer
	💍 1915/358
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	141
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

158

24 February 1915

Gottfried Kesens
Lilian Annie Susan Bell

Gottfried Neseus
Lilian Annie Susan Belt
💍 1915/7649

Widower 8/3/1913
Widow 23/8/1912

Tramway Employee

40
39

Island Bay
Island Bay

6 months
2 years

St Hilda's Church, Island Bay

316

24 February 1915

Rev. C. H. J. Maclaverty

No	158
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gottfried Kesens	Lilian Annie Susan Bell
BDM Match (92%)	Gottfried Neseus	Lilian Annie Susan Belt
	💍 1915/7649
Condition	Widower 8/3/1913	Widow 23/8/1912
Profession	Tramway Employee
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Island Bay
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St Hilda's Church, Island Bay
Folio	316
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. J. Maclaverty

159

24 February 1915

Alfred George Lake
Isabella Tribe Davidson

Alfred George Lake
Isabella Tribe Davidson
💍 1915/12568

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable

25
28

Wellington
Wellington

12 months
18 months

St John's Manse, Wellington

318

24 February 1915

Rev. J. Gibb

No	159
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Lake	Isabella Tribe Davidson
	💍 1915/12568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	St John's Manse, Wellington
Folio	318
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Gibb

160

24 February 1915

Edward Barnard
Ida Rose Friend

Edward Barnard
Ida Rose Friend
💍 1915/359

Bachelor
Spinster

Milkman

22
21

Wellington
Wellington

10 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Wellington

142

24 February 1915

Registrar

No	160
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Barnard	Ida Rose Friend
	💍 1915/359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milkman
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	142
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).