Intentions to Marry, 1917 Aria to Masterton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840471, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917c contains pages 862-1282, covering districts from Aria to Masterton

Page 895

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar S. G. Daniel

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

10 October 1917

William Ivor John
Ella Beatrice Sargent

William Ivor John
Ella Beatrice Sargent
💍 1917/557

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Jewellers assistant

28
27

Hawera
Hawera

2 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

5834

1 October 1917

Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	10 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Ivor John	Ella Beatrice Sargent
	💍 1917/557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Jewellers assistant
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	5834
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. B. Gray, Presbyterian

2 October 1917

Francis Joseph Cramp
Amy Florence Mayes

Francis Joseph Cramp
Amy Florence Mayes
💍 1917/558

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

25
21

Hawera
Hawera

1 year
1 year

St Marys Church, Hawera

5885

2 October 1917

Rev C H Grant Cowen, Anglican

No	41
Date of Notice	2 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Cramp	Amy Florence Mayes
	💍 1917/558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	St Marys Church, Hawera
Folio	5885
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev C H Grant Cowen, Anglican

6 October 1917

Awatapu Ngaki
Whakawiringa Rahiri

Awatapu Ngaki
Whakanuinga Rahiri
💍 1917/559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
42

Hawera
Hawera

30 years
40 years

St Marys Church, Hawera

5886

6 October 1917

Rev C H Grant Cowen, Anglican

No	42
Date of Notice	6 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Awatapu Ngaki	Whakawiringa Rahiri
BDM Match (92%)	Awatapu Ngaki	Whakanuinga Rahiri
	💍 1917/559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	42
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	30 years	40 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Church, Hawera
Folio	5886
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev C H Grant Cowen, Anglican

17 October 1917

Thomas Fifield Reeve
Rene Ruby Matravers

Thomas Fifield Reeve
Rene Ruby Matraves
💍 1917/560

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

24
21

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
10 years

Residence of Walter Isherwood, Collins St, Hawera

5887

17 October 1917

Rev H B Gray, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	17 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Fifield Reeve	Rene Ruby Matravers
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Fifield Reeve	Rene Ruby Matraves
	💍 1917/560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Walter Isherwood, Collins St, Hawera
Folio	5887
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H B Gray, Presbyterian

24 October 1917

Joseph Morris Kennedy
Margaret Helen Catherine Munro

Joseph Morris Kennedy
Margaret Helen Catherine Munro
💍 1917/561

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodturner
Domestic duties

34
21

Hawera
Hawera

9 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

5888

24 October 1917

Rev P J Power, Roman Catholic

No	44
Date of Notice	24 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Morris Kennedy	Margaret Helen Catherine Munro
	💍 1917/561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodturner	Domestic duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	9 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	5888
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P J Power, Roman Catholic

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).