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 1395

District of Shannon Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar J. Martin

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

02 July 1917

Exley Charles Richard Spring
Violet Myrtle Carlyle Grinder

Exley Charles Richard Spring
Violet Myrtle Carlyle
💍 1917/5128

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier on Active Service
Domestic Duties

24
19

Featherston Military Camp
Shannon

3 days
12 months

Residence of Mr W. Carlyle Shannon

4556

Charles Augustus Spring Father

05 July 1917

Rev. A. D. Nicholson Shannon Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	02 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Exley Charles Richard Spring	Violet Myrtle Carlyle Grinder
BDM Match (86%)	Exley Charles Richard Spring	Violet Myrtle Carlyle
	💍 1917/5128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier on Active Service	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Featherston Military Camp	Shannon
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Carlyle Shannon
Folio	4556
Consent	Charles Augustus Spring Father
Date of Certificate	05 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Nicholson Shannon Presbyterian

05 July 1917

John George Arrowsmith Wilson
Minnie Wilton

John George Arrowsmith Wilsoy
Minnie Wiltoy
💍 1917/5129

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

41
30

Tokomaru
Tokomaru

2 years
30 years

Presbyterian Church Tokomaru

4557

Earl Wilton Father

05 July 1917

Rev. A. D. Nicholson Shannon Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	05 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Arrowsmith Wilson	Minnie Wilton
BDM Match (94%)	John George Arrowsmith Wilsoy	Minnie Wiltoy
	💍 1917/5129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Tokomaru	Tokomaru
Length of Residence	2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tokomaru
Folio	4557
Consent	Earl Wilton Father
Date of Certificate	05 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Nicholson Shannon Presbyterian

10 August 1917

James Currie
Phyllis Marjorie Gunning

James Currie
Phyllis Marjorie Gunning
💍 1917/5130

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Home Duties

30
20

Wanganui
Shannon

3 years
17 years

Ven Bedes Church Shannon

4558

20 August 1917

Rev. C. Palmer Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	10 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Currie	Phyllis Marjorie Gunning
	💍 1917/5130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Home Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Shannon
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Ven Bedes Church Shannon
Folio	4558
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Palmer Church of England

31 August 1917

George Newman Wood
Evelyn Marion Withers

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

70
37

Shannon
Shannon

35 years
27 years

Mr G. N. Wood Private Residence Shannon. [Note: Not solemnised see attached]

31 August 1917

Rev. A. D. Nicholson Presbyterian Church Shannon

No	6
Date of Notice	31 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Newman Wood	Evelyn Marion Withers
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	70	37
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	35 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Mr G. N. Wood Private Residence Shannon. [Note: Not solemnised see attached]
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Nicholson Presbyterian Church Shannon

05 September 1917

John Allan Mitchell
Lilian Millicent Hyde

John Allan Mitchell
Lilian Millicent Hyde
💍 1917/5131

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
21

Shannon
Shannon

15 years
2 years

Mr A. C. Hyde's private residence Shannon

4559

05 September 1917

Rev. A. D. Nicholson Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	05 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allan Mitchell	Lilian Millicent Hyde
	💍 1917/5131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Shannon
Length of Residence	15 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Mr A. C. Hyde's private residence Shannon
Folio	4559
Consent
Date of Certificate	05 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. D. Nicholson Presbyterian

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).