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 1422

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar E. G. 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

15 February 1916

William Ernest Hall
Zella Elsie Ada Miller

William Ernest Hall
Zella Elsie Ada Miller
💍 1916/3703

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z.R.
Domestic

24
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
8 years

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

703

15 February 1916

H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ernest Hall	Zella Elsie Ada Miller
	💍 1916/3703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z.R.	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	703
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

18 February 1916

Harry Alexander Payne
Amy Maude Stewart

Harry Alexander Payne
Amy Maude Stuart
💍 1916/3704

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

704

Alexander Stewart, Father

18 February 1916

A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	18 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Alexander Payne	Amy Maude Stewart
BDM Match (94%)	Harry Alexander Payne	Amy Maude Stuart
	💍 1916/3704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	704
Consent	Alexander Stewart, Father
Date of Certificate	18 February 1916
Officiating Minister	A. Doull, Presbyterian

23 February 1916

John Frederick McLoughlin
Rother Jane Shaw

John Frederick McLaughlin
Esther Jane Shaw
💍 1916/3636

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Pastry cook
Domestic

22
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 weeks
3 days

Registrars Office Palmerston North

683

23 February 1916

E. G. Shortt, Registrar

No	38
Date of Notice	23 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick McLoughlin	Rother Jane Shaw
BDM Match (92%)	John Frederick McLaughlin	Esther Jane Shaw
	💍 1916/3636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Pastry cook	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	683
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1916
Officiating Minister	E. G. Shortt, Registrar

24 February 1916

Percy Daniel Poland
Emily Laura Smith

Percy Daniel Pound
Emily Laura Smith
💍 1916/3614

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 months
1 year

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

685

24 February 1916

H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	39
Date of Notice	24 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Daniel Poland	Emily Laura Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Daniel Pound	Emily Laura Smith
	💍 1916/3614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	685
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1916
Officiating Minister	H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

26 February 1916

William Henry Doney
Ethel Mary Cook

William Henry Doney
Ethel Mary Cook
💍 1916/3637

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic duties

23
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
13 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

684

26 February 1916

L. G. M. Shortt, Deputy Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	26 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Doney	Ethel Mary Cook
	💍 1916/3637
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	684
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1916
Officiating Minister	L. G. M. Shortt, 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).