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 1401

District of Taihape Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar P. B. J. Crossen

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

2 April 1917

Alexander Mackintosh
Margaret McDougal

Alexander MacKintosh
Margaret McDougal
💍 1917/3729

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

32
23

Moawhango, Taihape
Moawhango, Taihape

1 month
3 years

The Residence of Mr McDougal, Moawhango

2922

2 April 1917

John McCaw, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	2 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Mackintosh	Margaret McDougal
BDM Match (98%)	Alexander MacKintosh	Margaret McDougal
	💍 1917/3729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Moawhango, Taihape	Moawhango, Taihape
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr McDougal, Moawhango
Folio	2922
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1917
Officiating Minister	John McCaw, Presbyterian

4 April 1917

Henry Hesketh
Sydney Broughton

Henry Hesketh
Sydney Broughton
💍 1917/3576

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
School Teacher

30
26

Taihape
Taihape

9 years

St Andrews Church, Bulls

2802

4 April 1917

John E. Blackburn, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hesketh	Sydney Broughton
	💍 1917/3576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	School Teacher
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	9 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Bulls
Folio	2802
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	John E. Blackburn, Church of England

10 April 1917

Edward Robert Spencer Small
Helen Blanche Lines

Edward Robert Spencer Small
Helen Blanche Lines
💍 1917/4083

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

19
25

Taihape
Taihape

1 year
6 months

Registrars office, Taihape

3307

Winnie Small, Father

10 April 1917

P. B. J. Crossen, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	10 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Robert Spencer Small	Helen Blanche Lines
	💍 1917/4083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	25
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office, Taihape
Folio	3307
Consent	Winnie Small, Father
Date of Certificate	10 April 1917
Officiating Minister	P. B. J. Crossen, Registrar

13 April 1917

Joseph Simpson
Florena Helen Hassell

Joseph Simpson
Florence Ellen Hassell
💍 1917/3675

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Ladies Companion

35
24

Taihape
Taihape

2 years

St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Wanganui

2943

13 April 1917

J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	13 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Simpson	Florena Helen Hassell
BDM Match (91%)	Joseph Simpson	Florence Ellen Hassell
	💍 1917/3675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Ladies Companion
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Presbyterian Church, Wanganui
Folio	2943
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1917
Officiating Minister	J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian

4 May 1917

James Niven
Agnes Clara Haggarty

James Niven
Agnes Clara Haggarty
💍 1917/3730

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Tailoress

23
27

Taihape
Taihape

4 years
1 year

Residence Mr J. Niven, Tui Street, Taihape

2923

4 May 1917

John McCaw, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	4 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Niven	Agnes Clara Haggarty
	💍 1917/3730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Tailoress
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Taihape	Taihape
Length of Residence	4 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence Mr J. Niven, Tui Street, Taihape
Folio	2923
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1917
Officiating Minister	John McCaw, 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).