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 1563

District of Wellington Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar R. G. Ponton

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

551

9 July 1917

John Gray Johnston
Jessie Nelson

John Gray Johnston
Jessie Nelson
💍 1917/4742

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock agent & Company manager

23
28

Wellington
Lower Hutt

3 days
3 weeks

Knox Church Lower Hutt

4142

July 1917

Rev. J. McCaw

No	551
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gray Johnston	Jessie Nelson
	💍 1917/4742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock agent & Company manager
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Lower Hutt
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Knox Church Lower Hutt
Folio	4142
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McCaw

552

9 July 1917

Richard Francis Power
Mary Eliza McKenzie

Richard Francis Power
Mary Eliza McKenzie
💍 1917/4346

Bachelor
Divorcee decree absolute 18/5/17

Driver

29
33

Wellington
Wellington

4 years
6 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

3670

9 July 1917

The Registrar

No	552
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Francis Power	Mary Eliza McKenzie
	💍 1917/4346
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee decree absolute 18/5/17
Profession	Driver
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	3670
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	The Registrar

553

9 July 1917

William John Bailey
Gladys Edith Bryan Anyon

William John Bailey
Gladys Edith Bryan Anyon
💍 1917/4347

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer

27
25

s.s. Northumberland
Johnsonville

5 months
4 years

St. John's Church Johnsonville

3671

July 1917

Rev. F. Petrie

No	553
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Bailey	Gladys Edith Bryan Anyon
	💍 1917/4347
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	s.s. Northumberland	Johnsonville
Length of Residence	5 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church Johnsonville
Folio	3671
Consent
Date of Certificate	July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Petrie

554

9 July 1917

Oswald Gerald Thompson
Mabel Ellenor Pointon

Oswald Gerald Thompson
Mabel Ellenor Pointon
💍 1917/4348

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

27
17

Wellington
Wellington

6 years
10 years

The Residence of Mr W. Pointon, 131 Brougham Street Wellington

3672

Edward Pointon father

9 July 1917

Rev. W. Shirer

No	554
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Gerald Thompson	Mabel Ellenor Pointon
	💍 1917/4348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	27	17
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr W. Pointon, 131 Brougham Street Wellington
Folio	3672
Consent	Edward Pointon father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Shirer

555

10 July 1917

Isaac Trafford Rawson
Annie Beatrice Barnes

Isaac Trafford Rawson
Annie Beatrice Barnes
💍 1917/4349

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
43

Featherston
Ngaio Wellington

6 weeks
27 years

The Residence of Mr. W. Barnes, Ngaio

3673

10 July 1917

Rev. A. G. Hunt

No	555
Date of Notice	10 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Trafford Rawson	Annie Beatrice Barnes
	💍 1917/4349
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	43
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Ngaio Wellington
Length of Residence	6 weeks	27 years
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. W. Barnes, Ngaio
Folio	3673
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Hunt

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).