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 1702

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar R. P. 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

676

4 July 1916

Walter Morgan Jackson
Amy Adelaide Smith

Walter Morgan Jackson
Amy Adelaide Smith
💍 1916/1371

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

39
28

Star of Australia
Wellington

6 years
10 years

Residence of Mrs. J. Smith, 59 Moxham Avenue, Kilbirnie

6279

4 July 1916

Rev. J. Richards

No	676
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Morgan Jackson	Amy Adelaide Smith
	💍 1916/1371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	39	28
Dwelling Place	Star of Australia	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. J. Smith, 59 Moxham Avenue, Kilbirnie
Folio	6279
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Richards

677

4 July 1916

Elwyn Frank Evans
Marion Bold

Elwyn Frank Evans
Marion Bold
💍 1916/7161

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer

24
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
18 years

Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington

4669

4 July 1916

Rev. W. A. Evans

No	677
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elwyn Frank Evans	Marion Bold
	💍 1916/7161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Constable Street, Wellington
Folio	4669
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Evans

678

4 July 1916

Wong She Zoo
Wong Gar Lee

Wong She Too
Wong Gar Lee
💍 1916/7162

Married in China
Married in China

Fruiterer

39
35

Petone
Wellington

16 years
1 day

Residence of Mrs. A. Wong, 7 Mortimer Terrace, Wellington

4670

4 July 1916

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	678
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wong She Zoo	Wong Gar Lee
BDM Match (96%)	Wong She Too	Wong Gar Lee
	💍 1916/7162
Condition	Married in China	Married in China
Profession	Fruiterer
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Petone	Wellington
Length of Residence	16 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. A. Wong, 7 Mortimer Terrace, Wellington
Folio	4670
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

679

4 July 1916

Harry Stewart
Nancy Rhoda Murrell

Harry Stewart
Nancy Rhoda Murrell
💍 1916/7163

Widower 7 September 1909
Spinster

Golf Professional

36
25

Wellington
Wellington

9 months
9 years

Residence of Mrs. Murrell, 65 Ellice Street, Wellington

4671

4 July 1916

Rev. J. K. Archer

No	679
Date of Notice	4 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Stewart	Nancy Rhoda Murrell
	💍 1916/7163
Condition	Widower 7 September 1909	Spinster
Profession	Golf Professional
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Murrell, 65 Ellice Street, Wellington
Folio	4671
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Archer

680

5 July 1916

Percy Morris
Victoria Alicia Ramsay

Percy Morris
Victoria Alicia Ramsay
💍 1916/7165

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward

23
21

Wellington
Wellington

Life
Life

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4672

5 July 1916

Deputy Registrar

No	680
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Morris	Victoria Alicia Ramsay
	💍 1916/7165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4672
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Deputy 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).