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 1669

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. L. 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

516

27 May 1915

Joseph Dixon Bayless
Louise Bonteville Rollo

Joseph Dixon Cayless
Louise Bonteville Rollo
💍 1916/5301

Widower 7 November 1911
Spinster

Bootmaker

40
36

Lower Hutt
Wellington

2 years
20 months

Residence of Mr. W. Bayless, Cleveland St., Brooklyn

2568

27 May 1915

Mr. J. H. White

No	516
Date of Notice	27 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Dixon Bayless	Louise Bonteville Rollo
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Dixon Cayless	Louise Bonteville Rollo
	💍 1916/5301
Condition	Widower 7 November 1911	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker
Age	40	36
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	20 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. Bayless, Cleveland St., Brooklyn
Folio	2568
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. H. White

517

29 May 1916

Edgar Stewart Coleman
Dulcie May Nyhane

Edgar Stewart Coleman
Dulcie May Nyhane
💍 1916/11359

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
23

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
7 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

2569

29 May 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	517
Date of Notice	29 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Stewart Coleman	Dulcie May Nyhane
	💍 1916/11359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	2569
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

518

29 May 1916

Tom Rannie Wyatt
Margaret Zika Ifwerson

Tom Ranui Wyatt
Margaret Zika Ifwersen
💍 1916/5303

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

22
22

Featherston
Wellington

2 months
4 days

Anglican Church Wadestown

2570

29 May 1916

Rev. B. H. Harvey

No	518
Date of Notice	29 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tom Rannie Wyatt	Margaret Zika Ifwerson
BDM Match (92%)	Tom Ranui Wyatt	Margaret Zika Ifwersen
	💍 1916/5303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Wadestown
Folio	2570
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. H. Harvey

519

29 May 1916

Hugh Minchin
Mabel Hazell

Hugh Minchin
Mabel Hazell
💍 1916/5304

Widower 3 October 1910
Spinster

Builder

52
33

Trentham
Trentham

28 years
6 months

Registrar's Office Wellington

2571

29 May 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	519
Date of Notice	29 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Minchin	Mabel Hazell
	💍 1916/5304
Condition	Widower 3 October 1910	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	52	33
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	28 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	2571
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

520

29 May 1916

Francis Joseph Proctor
Edna Joan Colley

Francis Joseph Proctor
Edna Joan Colley
💍 1916/5306

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

33
20

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
9 years

St. Hilda's Church Island Bay

2572

Edwin John Colley Father

29 May 1916

Rev. J. S. Castle

No	520
Date of Notice	29 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Proctor	Edna Joan Colley
	💍 1916/5306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church Island Bay
Folio	2572
Consent	Edwin John Colley Father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Castle

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).