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 1463

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. H. Packhorpe

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

29 January 1917

James Colvin Stewart
Laurina Isbister

James Colvin Stewart
Laurina Isbistar
💍 1917/917

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

33
21

Island Bay
Island Bay

7 weeks
2 years

Residence of Mr. I. Isbister, 27 Trent St., Island Bay

411

29 January 1917

Rev. J. Glasson

No	71
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Colvin Stewart	Laurina Isbister
BDM Match (97%)	James Colvin Stewart	Laurina Isbistar
	💍 1917/917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Island Bay	Island Bay
Length of Residence	7 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. I. Isbister, 27 Trent St., Island Bay
Folio	411
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Glasson

29 January 1917

Thomas Doyle
Essie Atalanta Callachor Bruce

Thomas Doyle
Essie Atalanta Callerhoe Bruce
💍 1917/1281

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

28
31

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
5 days

St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington

412

29 January 1917

Rev. J. O'Connell

No	72
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Doyle	Essie Atalanta Callachor Bruce
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Doyle	Essie Atalanta Callerhoe Bruce
	💍 1917/1281
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary of the Angels Church, Wellington
Folio	412
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. O'Connell

29 January 1917

Alfred Herman Bonner
Ivy Hazel Fullford

Alfred Herman Conner
Ivy Hazel Fullford
💍 1917/1282

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

32
23

Featherston
Wellington

7 months
Life

Residence of Mrs. E. Dockery, 29 Cleveland St, Brooklyn

413

29 January 1917

Rev. B. Hutson

No	73
Date of Notice	29 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Herman Bonner	Ivy Hazel Fullford
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Herman Conner	Ivy Hazel Fullford
	💍 1917/1282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Wellington
Length of Residence	7 months	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. E. Dockery, 29 Cleveland St, Brooklyn
Folio	413
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Hutson

30 January 1917

Denis Fitzgerald
Emily May Snell

Denis Fitzgerald
Emily May Snell
💍 1917/1283

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman Defence Department

46
38

Wellington
Wellington

10 years
8 years

St. Joseph's Church, Wellington

414

30 January 1917

Rev. D. H. Hurley

No	74
Date of Notice	30 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Denis Fitzgerald	Emily May Snell
	💍 1917/1283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman Defence Department
Age	46	38
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Joseph's Church, Wellington
Folio	414
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. H. Hurley

30 January 1917

William Foster
Rene Melita Zabuteau

William Foster
Irene Melita Tabuteau
💍 1917/1284

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

29
37

Wellington
Wellington

3 days
3 weeks

St. Peter's Church, Wellington

415

30 January 1917

Rev. H. Watson

No	75
Date of Notice	30 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Foster	Rene Melita Zabuteau
BDM Match (93%)	William Foster	Irene Melita Tabuteau
	💍 1917/1284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	29	37
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	415
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson

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).