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 1039

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

25 May 1917

Earnest Charles Claude Chittenden
Gladys Meritte Keeley

Earnest Charles Claude Chittenden
Gladys Meutle Keeley
💍 1917/3558

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

21
20

Napier
Napier

17 years
10 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

2778

Parents deceased. No one to consent. Under Sec 27

11 June 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	44
Date of Notice	25 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earnest Charles Claude Chittenden	Gladys Meritte Keeley
BDM Match (93%)	Earnest Charles Claude Chittenden	Gladys Meutle Keeley
	💍 1917/3558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	17 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2778
Consent	Parents deceased. No one to consent. Under Sec 27
Date of Certificate	11 June 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

30 May 1917

Frederick William Seaton
Olive Elizabeth Stocker

Frederick William Seaton
Olive Elizabeth Stocker
💍 1917/3559

Widower 24 Nov. 1915
Widow 26 Jan. 1911

Fitter
Housekeeper

34
36

Napier
Napier

12 months
13 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

2779

30 May 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	45
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Seaton	Olive Elizabeth Stocker
	💍 1917/3559
Condition	Widower 24 Nov. 1915	Widow 26 Jan. 1911
Profession	Fitter	Housekeeper
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	13 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2779
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

30 May 1917

Mei Penetiki Heremia Pokai (Maori Full blood)
Kathrine Greening (Maori Half caste)

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
27

Moteo
Waiohiki

27 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

2780

30 May 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mei Penetiki Heremia Pokai (Maori Full blood)	Kathrine Greening (Maori Half caste)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Moteo	Waiohiki
Length of Residence	27 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2780
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

1 June 1917

Harold Ernest Douglas
Gretchen Margaret Irvine

Harold Ernest Douglas
Gretchen Margaret Irvine
💍 1917/3237

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Agent
Domestic

28
23

Napier
Palmerston North

28 years
3 years

St. Hilda's Church Island Bay

2165

1 June 1917

Rev. J. G. S. Castle, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	1 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Ernest Douglas	Gretchen Margaret Irvine
	💍 1917/3237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Agent	Domestic
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	28 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Hilda's Church Island Bay
Folio	2165
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. S. Castle, Church of England

1 June 1917

Walter Feierabend
Beatrice Turner

Walter Feierabend
Beatrice Turner
💍 1917/4021

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
House Duties

30
26

Napier
Napier

6 months
3 years

St. Augustine's Church Napier

3293

1 June 1917

Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	1 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Feierabend	Beatrice Turner
	💍 1917/4021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	House Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	3293
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Church of England

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).