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 1225

District of Greytown Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar Andrew McKenzie

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

21 February 1917

Charles John Gordon
Emily Smith

Charles John Gordon
Emily Smith
💍 1917/1883

Bachelor
Spinster

Horsedriver
Domestic duties

33
36

Greytown
Greytown

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Greytown

1068

21 February 1917

Andrew McKenzie Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	21 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Gordon	Emily Smith
	💍 1917/1883
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horsedriver	Domestic duties
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Greytown
Folio	1068
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Andrew McKenzie Registrar

20 February 1917

William Archer Edlin
Margaret Christina Porter

William Archer Edlin
Margaret Christina Porter
💍 1917/1882

Divorced
Widow

Corporal New Zealand Expeditionary Forces
Domestic duties

46
48

Greytown
Greytown

6 Months
6 Months

Residence of Mr Thomas Harris Main Street Greytown

1067

20 February 1917

William Grundy Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Archer Edlin	Margaret Christina Porter
	💍 1917/1882
Condition	Divorced	Widow
Profession	Corporal New Zealand Expeditionary Forces	Domestic duties
Age	46	48
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	6 Months	6 Months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Thomas Harris Main Street Greytown
Folio	1067
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	William Grundy Presbyterian

26 February 1917

Herbert Cole
Puiaki Toki Paora

Herbert Cole
Puiaki Toki Paora
💍 1917/1881

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
17

Greytown
Greytown

19 years
17 years

Registrars Office Greytown

1066

14 days notice Section 27 Marriage Act

12 March 1917

Andrew McKenzie Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	26 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Cole	Puiaki Toki Paora
	💍 1917/1881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	17
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	19 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Greytown
Folio	1066
Consent	14 days notice Section 27 Marriage Act
Date of Certificate	12 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Andrew McKenzie Registrar

08 March 1917

Alexander Orr
Illah Evelyn Humphries

Alexander Orr
Zillah Evelyn Humphries
💍 1917/1880

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typiste

25
26

Eketahuna
Greytown

9 Months
26 years

Presbyterian Church Greytown

1065

08 March 1917

William Grundy Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	08 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Orr	Illah Evelyn Humphries
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Orr	Zillah Evelyn Humphries
	💍 1917/1880
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typiste
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Eketahuna	Greytown
Length of Residence	9 Months	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Greytown
Folio	1065
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 March 1917
Officiating Minister	William Grundy Presbyterian

29 March 1917

Kingi Puihi
Areta Nahona

Kingi Puihi
Areta Nahona
💍 1917/1879

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

53
46

Greytown
Greytown

10 Months
10 Months

Registrars Office Greytown

1064

29 March 1917

Andrew McKenzie Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	29 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kingi Puihi	Areta Nahona
	💍 1917/1879
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	53	46
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	10 Months	10 Months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Greytown
Folio	1064
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Andrew McKenzie 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).