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 1516

District of Wanganui Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar Chas. E. Hylton

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

8 January 1916

Robert Mitchell
Clara Robinson

Robert Mitchell
Clara Robinson
💍 1916/3725

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
31

Kauangaroa
Aramoho

5 years
4 years

Church of England Aramoho

749

8 January 1916

S. Ogden, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mitchell	Clara Robinson
	💍 1916/3725
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Kauangaroa	Aramoho
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Aramoho
Folio	749
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1916
Officiating Minister	S. Ogden, Church of England

10 January 1916

William Watson
Selena Mary Gordon

William Watson
Selena Mary Gordon
💍 1916/3677

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Upholstress

32
24

Wanganui
Wanganui

6 1/2 years
26 years

Registrar's Office Wanganui

771

10 January 1916

Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Watson	Selena Mary Gordon
	💍 1916/3677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Upholstress
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wanganui
Folio	771
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Chas. E. Hylton, Registrar

10 January 1916

Henry Edwin Marsh
Grace Winifred Page

Henry Edwin Marsh
Grace Winifred Page
💍 1916/3678

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Help

28
22

Wanganui
Wanganui East

2 years
3 months

Presbyterian Church Wanganui East

775

10 January 1916

G. W. Blair, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Edwin Marsh	Grace Winifred Page
	💍 1916/3678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Help
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Wanganui East
Length of Residence	2 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Wanganui East
Folio	775
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1916
Officiating Minister	G. W. Blair, Presbyterian

15 January 1916

Charles Frederick Francis de Berry
Irene Taylor

Charles Frederick Francis de Berry
Irene Taylor
💍 1916/5077

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Telephone Cadette

23
20

Gonville Wanganui
Wanganui

3 years
16 years

Residence of Mr W. H. Taylor 148 Bell St Wanganui

2441

William Henry Taylor Father

15 January 1916

F. P. Kellow, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	15 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Francis de Berry	Irene Taylor
	💍 1916/5077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Telephone Cadette
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gonville Wanganui	Wanganui
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. H. Taylor 148 Bell St Wanganui
Folio	2441
Consent	William Henry Taylor Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1916
Officiating Minister	F. P. Kellow, Methodist

14 January 1916

Henry Earle Johns
Olive Annie Hughes

Henry Earle Jones
Olive Annie Hughes
💍 1916/3735

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
23

Kai Iwi
Maxwelltown

6 1/2 years
11 1/2 years

Residence of Mr J. W. D. Hughes Maxwelltown

776

17 January 1916

B. P. Evans, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	14 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Earle Johns	Olive Annie Hughes
BDM Match (94%)	Henry Earle Jones	Olive Annie Hughes
	💍 1916/3735
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Kai Iwi	Maxwelltown
Length of Residence	6 1/2 years	11 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. W. D. Hughes Maxwelltown
Folio	776
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1916
Officiating Minister	B. P. Evans, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).