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 1026

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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 December 1917

Henry Gerard Watson
Mildred Mary Cronin

Henry Gerard Watson
Mildred Mary Cronin
💍 1917/6136

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

46
28

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
12 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery Hastings

5970

17 December 1917

Rev. Father Mahoney

No	71
Date of Notice	17 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gerard Watson	Mildred Mary Cronin
	💍 1917/6136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	46	28
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery Hastings
Folio	5970
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahoney

19 December 1917

George Samuel Beckett
Agnes Geneva Dewstow

George Samuel Beckett
Agnes Geneva Denstow
💍 1917/6137

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic duties

29
23

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
23 years

St. Matthews Church Hastings

5971

19 December 1917

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	72
Date of Notice	19 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Samuel Beckett	Agnes Geneva Dewstow
BDM Match (98%)	George Samuel Beckett	Agnes Geneva Denstow
	💍 1917/6137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	5971
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

19 December 1917

William Henry Coombe
Bessie Curtis

William Henry Coombe
Bessie Curtis
💍 1917/6138

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Shop Assistant

25
20

Hastings
Hastings

2 years
20 years

Methodist Church Hastings

5972

Elizabeth Curtis Mother

19 December 1917

Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt

No	73
Date of Notice	19 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Coombe	Bessie Curtis
	💍 1917/6138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Shop Assistant
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hastings
Folio	5972
Consent	Elizabeth Curtis Mother
Date of Certificate	19 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt

21 December 1917

George Bell
Eva Mary Eeles

George Bell
Eva Mary Eeles
💍 1917/6194

Divorced
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

56
43

Hastings
Woodville

7 years
9 years

Mrs. Cox's house Woodville Gladstone Street Woodville

6006

21 December 1917

Rev. Geo. Gardner

No	74
Date of Notice	21 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bell	Eva Mary Eeles
	💍 1917/6194
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	56	43
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Woodville
Length of Residence	7 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Mrs. Cox's house Woodville Gladstone Street Woodville
Folio	6006
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Gardner

22 December 1917

Horace Walter Reeves
Emily Jane Banks

Horace Walter Reeves
Emily Jane Banks
💍 1917/6139

Widower 30/6/1913
Spinster

Returned Soldier
Domestic duties

47
40

Hastings
Hastings

28 years
3 days

St. Matthews Church Hastings

5973

22 December 1917

Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

No	75
Date of Notice	22 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Walter Reeves	Emily Jane Banks
	💍 1917/6139
Condition	Widower 30/6/1913	Spinster
Profession	Returned Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	47	40
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	28 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	5973
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Brocklehurst

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).