Intentions to Marry, 1917 Mauriceville to Wellington

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840472, 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.

1917d contains pages 1283-1664, covering districts from Mauriceville to Wellington

Page 1315

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

1 January 1917

Henry John Tolley
Eva Florence Stout

Henry John Tolley
Eva Florence Stout
💍 1917/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Saleswoman

26
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 Months

Congregational Church Broad Street Palmerston North

1115

1 January 1917

Rev A. L. M. Aspland Congregational

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Tolley	Eva Florence Stout
	💍 1917/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Saleswoman
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 Months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Broad Street Palmerston North
Folio	1115
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. L. M. Aspland Congregational

3 January 1917

Samuel Cox
Grace Annie Nielson

Samuel Cox
Grace Elsie Annie Nielson
💍 1917/1980

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 days
5 days

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

1117

3 January 1917

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Cox	Grace Annie Nielson
BDM Match (88%)	Samuel Cox	Grace Elsie Annie Nielson
	💍 1917/1980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	1117
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

3 January 1917

John Hamilton Knowles
Janet Hastie

John Hamilton Knowles
Janet Hastie
💍 1917/1979

Bachelor
Spinster

Station hand
Domestic

37
39

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
1 year

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

1116

3 January 1917

Rev A. J. McFarland Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton Knowles	Janet Hastie
	💍 1917/1979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station hand	Domestic
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	1116
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. McFarland Anglican

9 January 1917

Sydney Watson
Daisy Nettleton

Sydney Watson
Daisy Nettleton
💍 1917/1983

Bachelor
Widow

Horse trainer
Domestic

37
37

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
6 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

1119

9 January 1917

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Watson	Daisy Nettleton
	💍 1917/1983
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Horse trainer	Domestic
Age	37	37
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	1119
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1917
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

10 January 1917

John Thorpe
Susan Alice Caldwell

John Thorpe
Susan Alice Caldwell
💍 1917/1984

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner, Soldier
Domestic

31
39

Featherston
Palmerston North

3 weeks
2 years

Registrars Office Palmerston North

1120

10 January 1917

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thorpe	Susan Alice Caldwell
	💍 1917/1984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner, Soldier	Domestic
Age	31	39
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	1120
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1917
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt 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).