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 1052

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar Wm. Hanson

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

17 October 1917

Frederick Richard Sweetapple
Agnes Fergusson Semple

Frederick Richard Sweetapple
Agnes Fergusson Semple
💍 1917/6170

Widower 27th April 1914
Spinster

Aerated Water Manufacturer
Domestic Duties

38
38

Napier
Napier

38 years
2 years

The Manse Lincoln Road Napier

5981

17 October 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	92
Date of Notice	17 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Richard Sweetapple	Agnes Fergusson Semple
	💍 1917/6170
Condition	Widower 27th April 1914	Spinster
Profession	Aerated Water Manufacturer	Domestic Duties
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	38 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Manse Lincoln Road Napier
Folio	5981
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

18 October 1917

Cyril Probyn Berridge
Christina Isabella Ross

Cyril Probyn Berridge
Christina Isabella Ross
💍 1917/6171

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

37
35

Port Ahuriri
Hastings

3 months
4 months

St. Paul's Church Napier

5982

18 October 1917

Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

No	93
Date of Notice	18 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Probyn Berridge	Christina Isabella Ross
	💍 1917/6171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	5982
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher Presbyterian

24 October 1917

Frank Cecil Bee
Margaret Jane Berryman

Frank Cecil Bee
Margaret Jane Berryman
💍 1917/6172

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

30
29

Napier
Napier

12 years
4 months

St. Augustine's Church Napier

5983

24 October 1917

Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	24 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cecil Bee	Margaret Jane Berryman
	💍 1917/6172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	5983
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Rice Church of England

5 November 1917

Reginald Alfred Layzell
Helena Galetta Wiig

Reginald Alfred Layzell
Helena Galetta Wiig
💍 1917/6149

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Dressmaker

28
23

Napier
Napier

5 years
23 years

Residence of Mrs. Wiig Carlyle Street Napier

5984

5 November 1917

Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

No	95
Date of Notice	5 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Alfred Layzell	Helena Galetta Wiig
	💍 1917/6149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Dressmaker
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Wiig Carlyle Street Napier
Folio	5984
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hodge Congregational

9 November 1917

Bertie Gerald Wallis
Una Mildred Oakenfull

Bertie Gerald Wallis
Una Mildred Oakenfull
💍 1917/6150

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's Assistant
Domestic

23
19

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

4 years
8 years

All Saints Church Taradale

5985

Sarah Ann Oakenfull, Mother.

9 November 1917

Rev. A. P. Clarke Church of England

No	96
Date of Notice	9 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Gerald Wallis	Una Mildred Oakenfull
	💍 1917/6150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's Assistant	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Taradale
Folio	5985
Consent	Sarah Ann Oakenfull, Mother.
Date of Certificate	9 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. P. Clarke 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).