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 1718

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. G. W. 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

2 February 1915

John Galway
Emily Kate McDonough

John Galway
Emily Kate McDonough
💍 1915/8369

Widower 22 September 1909
Widow 5 May 1910

Retired Farmer

70
49

Wellington
Wellington

3 months
3 years

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

344

2 February 1915

Rev. W. Hurley

No	96
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Galway	Emily Kate McDonough
	💍 1915/8369
Condition	Widower 22 September 1909	Widow 5 May 1910
Profession	Retired Farmer
Age	70	49
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	344
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Hurley

2 February 1915

William John Harper
Margaret Phoebe Purcell

William John Harper
Marjorie Phoebe Purcell
💍 1915/2255

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

28
26

Wellington
Wellington

6 months
1 month

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

4185

2 February 1915

Rev. P. W. Tymons

No	97
Date of Notice	2 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Harper	Margaret Phoebe Purcell
BDM Match (91%)	William John Harper	Marjorie Phoebe Purcell
	💍 1915/2255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	4185
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Tymons

3 February 1915

William Johnathan White
Annie Merina Elizabeth Johnstone

William Johnathan White
Annie Menina Elizabeth Johnstone
💍 1915/370

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

28
29

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
12 years

Registrar's Office, Wellington

129

3 February 1915

Deputy Registrar

No	98
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Johnathan White	Annie Merina Elizabeth Johnstone
BDM Match (98%)	William Johnathan White	Annie Menina Elizabeth Johnstone
	💍 1915/370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	129
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

3 February 1915

William Reginald Minogue
Isabella Ellen McKay

William Reginald Minogue
Isabella Ellen McKay
💍 1915/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
22

Trentham
Trentham

2 months
1 month

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

3624

3 February 1915

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	99
Date of Notice	3 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Reginald Minogue	Isabella Ellen McKay
	💍 1915/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	3624
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

100

4 February 1915

Vivian Joseph Raymond
Elsie Eva Raymond

Vivian Joseph
Elsie Eva Raymond
💍 1915/8277

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

31
26

Masterton
Wellington

2 years
2 weeks

Residence of Mrs Baxter, 105 Austin Street, Wellington

353

4 February 1915

Rev. J. R. Glasson

No	100
Date of Notice	4 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vivian Joseph Raymond	Elsie Eva Raymond
BDM Match (81%)	Vivian Joseph	Elsie Eva Raymond
	💍 1915/8277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Baxter, 105 Austin Street, Wellington
Folio	353
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Glasson

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).