Intentions to Marry, 1916 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840466, 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.

1916d contains pages 1381-1802, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1415

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

5 January 1916

William Hugh Park Simpson
Blanche Martha Gemmell

William Hugh Rae Culpan
Blanche Martha Gemmell
💍 1916/3615

Bachelor
Spinster

Indent Agent
Domestic duties

37
23

Auckland
Palmerston North

37 years
12 years

Residence of John Gemmell, Ihaka Street, Palmerston North

686

5 January 1916

Alex Doull, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hugh Park Simpson	Blanche Martha Gemmell
BDM Match (84%)	William Hugh Rae Culpan	Blanche Martha Gemmell
	💍 1916/3615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indent Agent	Domestic duties
Age	37	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	37 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Gemmell, Ihaka Street, Palmerston North
Folio	686
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Alex Doull, Presbyterian

5 January 1916

James Daniel Harris
Petrea Pedersen

James Daniel Harris
Petrea Pedersen
💍 1916/3623

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
35

Palmerston North
Fitzherbert East

3 weeks
6 weeks

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

694

5 January 1916

H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Daniel Harris	Petrea Pedersen
	💍 1916/3623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	35
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Fitzherbert East
Length of Residence	3 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	694
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

10 January 1916

Edwin Henry Dagg
Fanny Woodroofe

Edwin Henry Dagg
Fanny Woodroofe
💍 1916/3616

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer
Shop assistant

39
33

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
33 years

Residence of G. Woodroofe, Pahiatua Street, Palmerston North

687

10 January 1916

F. W. Boys, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Henry Dagg	Fanny Woodroofe
	💍 1916/3616
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Shop assistant
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Woodroofe, Pahiatua Street, Palmerston North
Folio	687
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	F. W. Boys, Methodist

10 January 1916

William Egglesfield Wylde
Bertha Elvera Bergstrom

William Egglesfield Wylde
Bertha Elvera Baggstrom
💍 1916/3625

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
1 week

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

695

10 January 1916

H. G. Rosher, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Egglesfield Wylde	Bertha Elvera Bergstrom
BDM Match (96%)	William Egglesfield Wylde	Bertha Elvera Baggstrom
	💍 1916/3625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	695
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	H. G. Rosher, Anglican

10 January 1916

William Henry Symons
Elizabeth Ellen Washington

William Henry Symons
Elizabeth Ellen Washington
💍 1916/3617

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

27
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 months
13 months

St Andrew's Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston North

688

10 January 1916

Alex Doull, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Symons	Elizabeth Ellen Washington
	💍 1916/3617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 months	13 months
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Manse, Palmerston North
Folio	688
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Alex Doull, Presbyterian

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).