Intentions to Marry, 1916 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840465, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916c contains pages 931-1380, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 1085

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar G. W. Barron

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

9 October 1916

William John Dustow
Winifred Mary Mansell

William John Dustow
Winifred Mary Mansell
💍 1916/2187

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

28
19

Kiritaki
Kiritaki

3 years
1 week

House of Mr. W. J. Dustow, Kiritaki

7534

A. E. Mansell, Father

9 October 1916

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	9 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Dustow	Winifred Mary Mansell
	💍 1916/2187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Kiritaki	Kiritaki
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	House of Mr. W. J. Dustow, Kiritaki
Folio	7534
Consent	A. E. Mansell, Father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

21 October 1916

Carl Frederick Mollgaard
Jessie Elizabeth Harrigan

Carl Frederick Mollgaard
Jessie Elizabeth Harrigan
💍 1916/2180

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home Duties

24
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 years
1 year

Dwelling of Mrs Harrigan, High Street, Dannevirke

7533

21 October 1916

Rev. J. N. Griffin, Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	21 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Frederick Mollgaard	Jessie Elizabeth Harrigan
	💍 1916/2180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs Harrigan, High Street, Dannevirke
Folio	7533
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Griffin, Methodist

4 November 1916

Albert Stuart Nash
Isabell Elizabeth Rose Southee

Albert Stuart Nash
Isabele Elizabeth Rose Southee
💍 1916/2169

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Home Duties

25
18

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

25 years
11 years

Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke

7532

Mary Pollard, Mother

4 November 1916

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	4 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Stuart Nash	Isabell Elizabeth Rose Southee
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Stuart Nash	Isabele Elizabeth Rose Southee
	💍 1916/2169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Home Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	25 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke
Folio	7532
Consent	Mary Pollard, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

4 November 1916

Arthur Beatty
Rose May Augustine

Arthur Beatty
Rose May Augustine
💍 1916/2490

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Home Duties

24
21

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

24 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Mangatera

7531

4 November 1916

Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	4 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Beatty	Rose May Augustine
	💍 1916/2490
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Home Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mangatera
Folio	7531
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Grant, Presbyterian

4 November 1916

Richard Pierce Aylward
Caroline Agnes Eustace

Richard Pearce Aylward
Caroline Agnes Eustage
💍 1916/2489

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Home Duties

30
24

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

1 1/2 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke

7530

6 November 1916

Rev. Father J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

No	43
Date of Notice	4 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Pierce Aylward	Caroline Agnes Eustace
BDM Match (93%)	Richard Pearce Aylward	Caroline Agnes Eustage
	💍 1916/2489
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Home Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke
Folio	7530
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Bowe, Roman Catholic

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).