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 1047

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 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

24 August 1917

Edgar Blundell
Nellie Constance Gildawie Harris

Edgar Blundell
Nellie Constance Gildawie Harris
💍 1917/4468

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine engineer
Law clerk

29
29

Napier
Wellington

3 years
5 years

Residence of C. S. Moore, Moana Road, Kelburn, Wellington

3793

24 August 1917

Rev. J. Comrie, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	24 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Blundell	Nellie Constance Gildawie Harris
	💍 1917/4468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine engineer	Law clerk
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of C. S. Moore, Moana Road, Kelburn, Wellington
Folio	3793
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Comrie, Presbyterian

25 August 1917

Walter Hawk Martin (Maori Half Caste)
Violet Gemmell (Maori Half Caste)

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Housemaid

22
22

Napier
Napier

5 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Napier

4423

25 August 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	76
Date of Notice	25 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Hawk Martin (Maori Half Caste)	Violet Gemmell (Maori Half Caste)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Housemaid
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	4423
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

27 August 1917

Alfred Moffat Smith
Alice Prentice Gillies

Alfred Moffat Smith
Alice Prentice Gillies
💍 1917/4949

Widower 5th April 1916
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic Duties

55
34

Napier
Napier

3 days
9 years

Residence of Mrs. Gillies, Napier

4424

27 August 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	27 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Moffat Smith	Alice Prentice Gillies
	💍 1917/4949
Condition	Widower 5th April 1916	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	55	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Gillies, Napier
Folio	4424
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

31 August 1917

John Ruddick
Kitty Donovan

John Ruddick
Kitty Donovan
💍 1917/5082

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

35
22

Napier
Napier

9 days
9 days

Registrar's Office, Napier

4425

31 August 1917

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	78
Date of Notice	31 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ruddick	Kitty Donovan
	💍 1917/5082
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	9 days	9 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	4425
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1917
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

8 September 1917

Thomas Ignatius McCarthy
Violet Jean Leadbetter

Thomas Ignatuis McCarthy
Violet Jane Leadbetter
💍 1917/5093

Bachelor
Spinster

Freezing Works employee
Tailoress

34
30

Taradale
Taradale

3 weeks
30 years

Roman Catholic Church, Meeanee

4426

8 September 1917

Rev. Father Hickson, Roman Catholic

No	79
Date of Notice	8 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ignatius McCarthy	Violet Jean Leadbetter
BDM Match (91%)	Thomas Ignatuis McCarthy	Violet Jane Leadbetter
	💍 1917/5093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Freezing Works employee	Tailoress
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	3 weeks	30 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Meeanee
Folio	4426
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Hickson, 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).