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 1499

District of Shannon Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. Martin

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

1 April 1916

William Otto Hounsell
Elizabeth Emily Westall

William Otto Hounsell
Elizabeth Emily McHale
💍 1916/6558

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Tokomaru
Tokomaru

2 years
2 years

Church of England, Tokomaru

3993

1 April 1916

Rev. C. Palmer, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	1 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Otto Hounsell	Elizabeth Emily Westall
BDM Match (89%)	William Otto Hounsell	Elizabeth Emily McHale
	💍 1916/6558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Tokomaru	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tokomaru
Folio	3993
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Palmer, Church of England

15 April 1916

Leopold Ernest Henry Alzdorf
Elsie Jean Wills

Leopold Ernest Henry Alzdorf
Elsie Jean Wills
💍 1916/6465

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
School Teacher

29
22

Shannon
Shannon

2 years
3 years

All Saints, Palmerston North

3945

15 April 1916

Rev. C. Palmer, Registrar Palmerston North

No	5
Date of Notice	15 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leopold Ernest Henry Alzdorf	Elsie Jean Wills
	💍 1916/6465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	School Teacher
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints, Palmerston North
Folio	3945
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Palmer, Registrar Palmerston North

18 April 1916

Reginald Albert Rankin
Ada Weavers

Reginald Albert Rankin
Ada Weavers
💍 1916/7235

Bachelor
Widow (16th Jan. 1911)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
35

Shannon
Shannon

6 months
6 months

Catholic Church, Shannon

4846

18 April 1916

Rev. Father Cronin, Catholic Church

No	6
Date of Notice	18 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Albert Rankin	Ada Weavers
	💍 1916/7235
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (16th Jan. 1911)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Shannon
Folio	4846
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Cronin, Catholic Church

10 June 1916

John Caull
Myrtle Evangelina Domewon

John Coull
Myrtle Evangelist Tremewan
💍 1916/6559

Bachelor
Spinster

Lieutenant
Domestic

32
19

Trentham
Shannon

6 months
19 years

Church of England, Shannon

3994

A. E. Domewon, Father

10 June 1916

Rev. C. Palmer, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Caull	Myrtle Evangelina Domewon
BDM Match (83%)	John Coull	Myrtle Evangelist Tremewan
	💍 1916/6559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lieutenant	Domestic
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Shannon
Length of Residence	6 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Shannon
Folio	3994
Consent	A. E. Domewon, Father
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Palmer, Church of England

10 June 1916

George Voss
Mary Walpole Griffiths

George Voss
Mary Walpole Griffiths
💍 1916/6561

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas Stoker
School Teacher

24
22

Palmerston North
Tokomaru

24 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Tokomaru

3995

10 June 1916

Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian Church

No	8
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Voss	Mary Walpole Griffiths
	💍 1916/6561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas Stoker	School Teacher
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tokomaru
Folio	3995
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw, Presbyterian Church

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).