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 1591

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar J. H. Palethorpe

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

131

12 February 1916

Ernest Georg Pain Manley
Jessie Louisa Book

Ernest George Pain Manley
Jessie Louisa Cook
💍 1916/8963

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

26
24

Featherston
Wellington

2 months
24 years

Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington

1541

12 February 1916

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	131
Date of Notice	12 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Georg Pain Manley	Jessie Louisa Book
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest George Pain Manley	Jessie Louisa Cook
	💍 1916/8963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	24 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Taranaki Street, Wellington
Folio	1541
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

132

14 February 1916

Jeremiah O'Connor
Lillian Eva Miller

Jeremiah O'Connor
Lillian Eva Miller
💍 1916/5256

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

27
27

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
18 months

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

2621

14 February 1916

Rev. J. M. Barra

No	132
Date of Notice	14 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah O'Connor	Lillian Eva Miller
	💍 1916/5256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	2621
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Barra

133

14 February 1916

Edward Henry Burrell
Florence Coppins

Edward Henry Burrell
Florence Coppins
💍 1916/8964

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

40
34

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
18 years

St. Thomas' Church, Wellington

1542

14 February 1916

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	133
Date of Notice	14 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Burrell	Florence Coppins
	💍 1916/8964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	1542
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

134

14 February 1916

William Thomas York
Florence Amy Gertrude Marten

William Thomas York
Florence Amy Gertrude Marten
💍 1916/8965

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

46
36

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
12 months

Residence of Mrs Marten "Glenmore", Upland Road, Kelburn

1543

14 February 1916

Rev. G. Knowles Smith

No	134
Date of Notice	14 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas York	Florence Amy Gertrude Marten
	💍 1916/8965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Marten "Glenmore", Upland Road, Kelburn
Folio	1543
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Knowles Smith

135

14 February 1916

Ivan Stuart Craig
Winifred Armstrong Aitken

Evan Stuart Craig
Winifred Armstrong Aitken
💍 1916/8966

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

23
22

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Kelburn & Kilbirnie

1544

14 February 1916

Rev. H. Beggs

No	135
Date of Notice	14 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Stuart Craig	Winifred Armstrong Aitken
BDM Match (97%)	Evan Stuart Craig	Winifred Armstrong Aitken
	💍 1916/8966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kelburn & Kilbirnie
Folio	1544
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

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).