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 1440

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

118

23 August 1916

William George Trilford
Florence Cornelia Hartley

William George Trilford
Florence Cornelia Hartley
💍 1916/3076

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

19
17

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

5782

William Henry Trilford, father; Henry Hartley, father

23 August 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	118
Date of Notice	23 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Trilford	Florence Cornelia Hartley
	💍 1916/3076
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	5782
Consent	William Henry Trilford, father; Henry Hartley, father
Date of Certificate	23 August 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

119

28 August 1916

Thomas Henry Nicholls
Irene May Richards

Thomas Henry Nicholls
Irene May Richards
💍 1916/3074

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier dairyman
Domestic duties

25
21

Featherston
Palmerston North

2 months
19 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North

5780

28 August 1916

Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	119
Date of Notice	28 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Nicholls	Irene May Richards
	💍 1916/3074
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier dairyman	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North
Folio	5780
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Doull, Presbyterian

120

30 August 1916

Thomas William Logan
Annabella Dingwall Shepherd

Thomas William Logan
Annabella Dingwall Shepherd
💍 1916/3077

Bachelor
Spinster

Scutcher
Domestic duties

30
31

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

5783

30 August 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	30 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Logan	Annabella Dingwall Shepherd
	💍 1916/3077
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Scutcher	Domestic duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	5783
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 August 1916
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

121

2 September 1916

Jens Anders Ludvigsen
Julie Hansen

Jens Auders Ludvigsen
Julie Hansen
💍 1916/2646

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
1 month

Residence of Carl Andersen, 32 Linton Street, Palmerston North

7802

2 September 1916

Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

No	121
Date of Notice	2 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jens Anders Ludvigsen	Julie Hansen
BDM Match (98%)	Jens Auders Ludvigsen	Julie Hansen
	💍 1916/2646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of Carl Andersen, 32 Linton Street, Palmerston North
Folio	7802
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Christensen, Lutheran

122

2 September 1916

Johan Albin Karlsson
Amy Agnes Smith

Johan Albin Karlsson
Amy Agnes Smith
💍 1916/85

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

5781

2 September 1916

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	122
Date of Notice	2 September 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johan Albin Karlsson	Amy Agnes Smith
	💍 1916/85
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	5781
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 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).