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 1537

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar R. G. Poulton

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

431

30 May 1917

John Albert Peart
Mary Alma Petterson

John Albert Peart
Mary Alma Petterson
💍 1917/3143

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

37
33

Wellington
Wellington

12 years
5 years

St Marks Church Wellington

2386

30 May 1917

Rev. C. H. Askew

No	431
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Albert Peart	Mary Alma Petterson
	💍 1917/3143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church Wellington
Folio	2386
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Askew

432

30 May 1917

James William Francis Donnelly
Veronica McCormack

James William Francis Donnelly
Veronica McCormack
💍 1917/3125

Divorced decree absolute 23 December 1915
Spinster

Hair Specialist

31
21

Wellington
Wellington

1 year
3 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

2387

30 May 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	432
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Francis Donnelly	Veronica McCormack
	💍 1917/3125
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 23 December 1915	Spinster
Profession	Hair Specialist
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	2387
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

433

30 May 1917

Roy Albert Victor Hawke
Monica Edith Millward

Roy Albert Victor Hawke
Monica Edith Millward
💍 1917/3126

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor

22
22

Wellington
Wellington

1 day
4 years

Trinity Methodist Church Wellington

2388

30 May 1917

Rev. E. Drake

No	433
Date of Notice	30 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Albert Victor Hawke	Monica Edith Millward
	💍 1917/3126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 day	4 years
Marriage Place	Trinity Methodist Church Wellington
Folio	2388
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Drake

434

31 May 1917

Arthur James King
Lily Holding

Arthur James King
Lily Holding
💍 1917/3127

Divorced decree absolute 15 May 1917
Spinster

Staff Sergeant Major

43
31

Trentham
Melling

7 months
9 months

Methodist Chapel Lower Hutt Wellington

2389

31 May 1917

Rev. W. J. Murray

No	434
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James King	Lily Holding
	💍 1917/3127
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 15 May 1917	Spinster
Profession	Staff Sergeant Major
Age	43	31
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Melling
Length of Residence	7 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Chapel Lower Hutt Wellington
Folio	2389
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Murray

435

31 May 1917

Bernard Russell Lankshear
Amy Gabriel Sellars

Bernard Russell Larkshear
Amy Gabriel Sellars
💍 1917/3128

Bachelor
Spinster

Captain N.Z.E.F.

25
24

Wellington
Wellington

4 weeks
1 year

Sacred Heart Basilica Hill Street Wellington

2390

31 May 1917

Rev. P. J. Smyth

No	435
Date of Notice	31 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Russell Lankshear	Amy Gabriel Sellars
BDM Match (98%)	Bernard Russell Larkshear	Amy Gabriel Sellars
	💍 1917/3128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Captain N.Z.E.F.
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 weeks	1 year
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Basilica Hill Street Wellington
Folio	2390
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Smyth

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).