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 1707

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar J. Thorpe

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

701

12 July 1916

Francis Owen Mooney
Kathleen McDonald

Francis Owen Mooney
Kathleen McDonald
💍 1916/13430

Bachelor
Divorced - Decree absolute 24 May 1916

Butcher

20
31

Lower Hutt
Wellington

11 years
7 years

St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

4723

12 July 1916

Rev. Jas O'Connell

No	701
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Owen Mooney	Kathleen McDonald
	💍 1916/13430
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced - Decree absolute 24 May 1916
Profession	Butcher
Age	20	31
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Wellington
Length of Residence	11 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	4723
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas O'Connell

702

12 July 1916

Arthur Ernest Talbot
Olivia Anne Duncan

Arthur Ernest Talbot
Olivia Anne Duncan
💍 1916/1640

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

39
29

Trentham
Wellington

6 months
4 years

Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington

6309

12 July 1916

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	702
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Talbot	Olivia Anne Duncan
	💍 1916/1640
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica, Wellington
Folio	6309
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

703

14 July 1916

John Fisher Harrison
Mary Kathleen Connell

John Fisher Harrison
Mary Kathleen Connell
💍 1916/7190

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

27
26

Trentham
Trentham

20 years
25 years

St John's Church, Wellington

4724

14 July 1916

Rev. J. H. Sykes

No	703
Date of Notice	14 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Fisher Harrison	Mary Kathleen Connell
	💍 1916/7190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Trentham
Length of Residence	20 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Wellington
Folio	4724
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Sykes

704

14 July 1916

James Dearsley
Blanche Vida Fountain

James Dearsly
Blanche Vida Fountain
💍 1916/7191

Widower 20 January 1910
Spinster

Insurance manager

59
42

Christchurch
Wellington

20 years
6 weeks

St Andrew's Manse, Hill St, Wellington

4725

14 July 1916

Rev. Jas. Smith

No	704
Date of Notice	14 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Dearsley	Blanche Vida Fountain
BDM Match (96%)	James Dearsly	Blanche Vida Fountain
	💍 1916/7191
Condition	Widower 20 January 1910	Spinster
Profession	Insurance manager
Age	59	42
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Manse, Hill St, Wellington
Folio	4725
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Smith

705

14 July 1916

Gilbert Morgan
Sarah Ann Hesheth

Gilbert Morgan
Sarah Ann Hesketh
💍 1916/1504

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
3 days

St Thomas' Church, Wellington

6273

14 July 1916

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	705
Date of Notice	14 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Morgan	Sarah Ann Hesheth
BDM Match (97%)	Gilbert Morgan	Sarah Ann Hesketh
	💍 1916/1504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church, Wellington
Folio	6273
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

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).