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 1449

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 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

159

20 November 1916

Valentine Leonard Smith
Annie Caroline Crooks

Valentine Leonard Smith
Annie Caroline Crooks
💍 1916/2562

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

7741

20 November 1916

C.E. Shortt Registrar

No	159
Date of Notice	20 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Valentine Leonard Smith	Annie Caroline Crooks
	💍 1916/2562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	7741
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1916
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt Registrar

160

20 November 1916

John Burden
Olive Margaret Strong

John Burden
Olive Margaret Strong
💍 1916/2563

Bachelor
Spinster

Picture framer
Domestic

26
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
20 years

Residence of Mr F.S. Strong 38 Church Street East Palmerston North

7742

Frederick Septimus Strong, Father

20 November 1916

Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

No	160
Date of Notice	20 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Burden	Olive Margaret Strong
	💍 1916/2563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Picture framer	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr F.S. Strong 38 Church Street East Palmerston North
Folio	7742
Consent	Frederick Septimus Strong, Father
Date of Certificate	20 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev D. B. F. Carlisle Baptist

161

21 November 1916

Robert William Ernest Curran
Winifred Thompson

Robert William Ernest Curran
Winifred Thompson
💍 1916/2564

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

24
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
3 years

Residence of Mr R.W.E. Curran 255 Main Street East Palmerston North

7743

21 November 1916

Mr Henry Curran Undenominational

No	161
Date of Notice	21 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Ernest Curran	Winifred Thompson
	💍 1916/2564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R.W.E. Curran 255 Main Street East Palmerston North
Folio	7743
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr Henry Curran Undenominational

162

23 November 1916

John Hancox
Elsie May Ransom

John Hancox
Elsie May Ransom
💍 1916/2565

Widower
Widow

Blacksmith
Domestic

39
38

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr William Davey Aokautere

7744

23 November 1916

Rev John McCaw Presbyterian

No	162
Date of Notice	23 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hancox	Elsie May Ransom
	💍 1916/2565
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr William Davey Aokautere
Folio	7744
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev John McCaw Presbyterian

163

24 November 1916

Albert Edward Johnson
Kathleen Margaret Boyle

Albert Edward Johnson
Kathleen Margaret Boyle
💍 1916/2573

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic

24
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 months

Registrars Office Palmerston North

7745

Martin Boyle, Father

24 November 1916

C.E. Shortt Registrar

No	163
Date of Notice	24 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward Johnson	Kathleen Margaret Boyle
	💍 1916/2573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	7745
Consent	Martin Boyle, Father
Date of Certificate	24 November 1916
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt Registrar

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).