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 1438

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

108

22 July 1916

George Collins Keller
Emma Barlow

George Collins Weller
Emma Barlow
💍 1916/3058

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Tailoress

30
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
6 months

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

5788

22 July 1916

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	108
Date of Notice	22 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Collins Keller	Emma Barlow
BDM Match (98%)	George Collins Weller	Emma Barlow
	💍 1916/3058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Tailoress
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	5788
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

109

25 July 1916

Allan Edgar Larsen
Katie Dobson

Allan Edgar Larsen
Katie Dobson
💍 1916/3060

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 year

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

5790

John Pringle Dobson, Father

25 July 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	25 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Edgar Larsen	Katie Dobson
	💍 1916/3060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	5790
Consent	John Pringle Dobson, Father
Date of Certificate	25 July 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

110

1 August 1916

Frederick Ernest Hancock
Florence Lydia Thompson

Frederick Ernest Hancock
Florence Lydia Thompson
💍 1916/3061

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
34

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 week

Residence of Mrs. E. G. [illegible] Park Road Palmerston North

5791

1 August 1916

Rev. J. H. Haslam, Methodist

No	110
Date of Notice	1 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Ernest Hancock	Florence Lydia Thompson
	💍 1916/3061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. G. [illegible] Park Road Palmerston North
Folio	5791
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Haslam, Methodist

111

5 August 1916

Frank Herbert Larouch
Blanche Lilian Sylvester

Frank Herbert Crouch
Blanche Lilian Sylvester
💍 1916/3059

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway porter
Domestic duties

29
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

7 months
10 years

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

5789

Christine Mary Hobbs (formerly Sylvester), mother

5 August 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	5 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Herbert Larouch	Blanche Lilian Sylvester
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Herbert Crouch	Blanche Lilian Sylvester
	💍 1916/3059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway porter	Domestic duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	5789
Consent	Christine Mary Hobbs (formerly Sylvester), mother
Date of Certificate	5 August 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

112

5 August 1916

John Edmond Keith Perrin
Dorothy Irene Lunn

John Edmond Keith Perrin
Dorothy Irene Lunn
💍 1916/3062

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Cashier

19
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

19 years
18 years

Registrar's Office Palmerston North

5792

Ernest Edmund Perrin, Father; Charles Lunn, Father

5 August 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	112
Date of Notice	5 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edmond Keith Perrin	Dorothy Irene Lunn
	💍 1916/3062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Cashier
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	19 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Palmerston North
Folio	5792
Consent	Ernest Edmund Perrin, Father; Charles Lunn, Father
Date of Certificate	5 August 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, 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).