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 1686

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

212

27 November 1915

John Walker Voght
Laura Catherine Jones

John Walter Voght
Laura Catherine Jones
💍 1915/6863

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Cook

27
28

Wanganui
Wanganui

2 days
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

9330

27 November 1915

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	212
Date of Notice	27 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Walker Voght	Laura Catherine Jones
BDM Match (97%)	John Walter Voght	Laura Catherine Jones
	💍 1915/6863
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Cook
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	2 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	9330
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

213

29 November 1915

Harold Anders
Myrtle Beatrice Dawson

Harold Ardern
Myrtle Beatrice Dewson
💍 1915/6923

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

28
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

4 months
22 years

St Johns Church of England, Wanganui

9359

29 November 1915

H. Reeve, Church of England

No	213
Date of Notice	29 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Anders	Myrtle Beatrice Dawson
BDM Match (90%)	Harold Ardern	Myrtle Beatrice Dewson
	💍 1915/6923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	4 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church of England, Wanganui
Folio	9359
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1915
Officiating Minister	H. Reeve, Church of England

214

2 December 1915

Frank Abrahams
Alice Philips

Frank Abrahams
Alice Philps
💍 1915/6922

Widower
Spinster

Photographer
House duties

50
39

Wanganui
Gonville

2 years
8 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

9358

2 December 1915

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	214
Date of Notice	2 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Abrahams	Alice Philips
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Abrahams	Alice Philps
	💍 1915/6922
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	House duties
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Gonville
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	9358
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 December 1915
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

215

4 December 1915

John Paterson
Fanny Crane

John Paterson
Fanny Crane
💍 1915/6833

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
27

No 2 Line Wanganui
No 2 Line Wanganui

23 years
27 years

Residence of Mr J. P. Crane No 2 Line Wanganui

9318

4 December 1915

D. Calder, Presbyterian

No	215
Date of Notice	4 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paterson	Fanny Crane
	💍 1915/6833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	No 2 Line Wanganui	No 2 Line Wanganui
Length of Residence	23 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. P. Crane No 2 Line Wanganui
Folio	9318
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1915
Officiating Minister	D. Calder, Presbyterian

216

7 December 1915

Norman Arthur Henry Hopper
Ellen Laura James

Norman Arthur Henry Hopper
Ellen Laura James
💍 1915/6870

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner
Domestic duties

20
22

Wanganui
Wanganui

5 years
22 years

Registrar's Office, Wanganui

9331

No person in New Zealand having authority to give consent

22 December 1915

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	216
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Arthur Henry Hopper	Ellen Laura James
	💍 1915/6870
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner	Domestic duties
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wanganui
Folio	9331
Consent	No person in New Zealand having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, 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).