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 1587

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar R. S. 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

671

24 August 1917

Samuel Michael Grayden Simpson
Marjorie Baldwin (Iles)

Samuel Michael Grayde Simpson
Marjorie Baldwin
💍 1917/4482

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

21
20

Wellington
Wellington

2 years
12 years

Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington

3783

Elsie Willeston Mother

24 August 1917

Rev. A Reader

No	671
Date of Notice	24 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Michael Grayden Simpson	Marjorie Baldwin (Iles)
BDM Match (83%)	Samuel Michael Grayde Simpson	Marjorie Baldwin
	💍 1917/4482
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Molesworth Street Wellington
Folio	3783
Consent	Elsie Willeston Mother
Date of Certificate	24 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Reader

672

24 August 1917

Jeremiah Murphy
Elizabeth McNamara

Jeremiah Murphy
Elizabeth McNamara
💍 1917/4483

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

37
39

Trentham
Wellington

2 months
Life

St Mary of the Angels Boulcott Street Wellington

3784

24 August 1917

Rev. A Venning

No	672
Date of Notice	24 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jeremiah Murphy	Elizabeth McNamara
	💍 1917/4483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	37	39
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary of the Angels Boulcott Street Wellington
Folio	3784
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A Venning

673

25 August 1917

William Joseph Brailey
Ruth Myrtle Espin

William Joseph Brailey
Ruth Myrtle Espin
💍 1917/4460

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Fireman

26
20

Wellington
Wellington

1 week
6 years

The Manse 21 Hankey Street Wellington

3785

Caroline Ellen Espin Mother

25 August 1917

Rev. G K Smith

No	673
Date of Notice	25 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Brailey	Ruth Myrtle Espin
	💍 1917/4460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Fireman
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 week	6 years
Marriage Place	The Manse 21 Hankey Street Wellington
Folio	3785
Consent	Caroline Ellen Espin Mother
Date of Certificate	25 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G K Smith

674

27 August 1917

James McLeod McArthur
Agnes Rebecca Mather

James McLeod McArthur
Agnes Rebecca Mather
💍 1917/4461

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman

22
20

Wellington
Wellington

13 months
11 months

St John's Church Willis Street Wellington

3786

Charles Mather Father

27 August 1917

Dr. J Gibb

No	674
Date of Notice	27 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McLeod McArthur	Agnes Rebecca Mather
	💍 1917/4461
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	13 months	11 months
Marriage Place	St John's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	3786
Consent	Charles Mather Father
Date of Certificate	27 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Dr. J Gibb

675

27 August 1917

Walter Alexander Clark
Zillah Irene Minifie

Walter Alexander Clark
Zillah Irene Minifie
💍 1917/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Electrical Engineer

30
21

N.Z.H.S. Marama
Wellington

9 months
6 years

Methodist Church Taranaki Street Wellington

3787

27 August 1917

Rev. J G Chapman

No	675
Date of Notice	27 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Alexander Clark	Zillah Irene Minifie
	💍 1917/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Electrical Engineer
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	N.Z.H.S. Marama	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Taranaki Street Wellington
Folio	3787
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J G Chapman

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).