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 1682

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. A. Palthorpe

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

581

10 June 1916

Charles Congreve Butt
Clara Isabella Gaddis

Charles Congreve Butt
Clara Isabella Geddis
💍 1916/22

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

7 days
5 years

Unitarian Free Church Wellington

2637

10 June 1916

Rev. G. E. Hale

No	581
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Congreve Butt	Clara Isabella Gaddis
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Congreve Butt	Clara Isabella Geddis
	💍 1916/22
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Unitarian Free Church Wellington
Folio	2637
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Hale

582

10 June 1916

John Patrick Casey
Florence Townley

John Patrick Casey
Florence Townsley
💍 1916/5271

Divorced Decree Absolute 2 Oct 1911
Spinster

Plumber

32
28

Wellington
Wellington

32 years
3 years

Trinity Methodist Church Wellington

2638

10 June 1916

Rev. E. Drake

No	582
Date of Notice	10 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Casey	Florence Townley
BDM Match (97%)	John Patrick Casey	Florence Townsley
	💍 1916/5271
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 2 Oct 1911	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	32 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Wellington
Folio	2638
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake

583

12 June 1916

William Henry Christensen
Myrtle Amy Lerwill

William Henry Christensen
Myrtle Amy Lerwill
💍 1916/5272

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailmaker's Assistant

22
21

Island Bay
Wellington

10 years
21 years

Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington

2639

12 June 1916

Rev. J. G. Chapman

No	583
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Christensen	Myrtle Amy Lerwill
	💍 1916/5272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailmaker's Assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Wesley Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	2639
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Chapman

584

12 June 1916

James Inglis
Matilda Agnes Swensson

James Inglis
Matilda Agnes Swensson
💍 1916/5273

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman

35
35

Lower Hutt
Otaki

10 years
3 days

All Saints Church Otaki

2640

12 June 1916

Rev. G. F. Petrie

No	584
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Inglis	Matilda Agnes Swensson
	💍 1916/5273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Lower Hutt	Otaki
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Otaki
Folio	2640
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Petrie

585

12 June 1916

Robert Leonard Loftus
Mary Josephine Lawlor

Robert Leonard Loftus
Mary Josephine Lawlor
💍 1916/5274

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk

29
27

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
20 years

St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington

2641

12 June 1916

Rev. J. A. O'Connell

No	585
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Leonard Loftus	Mary Josephine Lawlor
	💍 1916/5274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church Wellington
Folio	2641
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. O'Connell

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).