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 1609

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar R. L. Donnellon

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

777

1 October 1917

Albert James Mann
Bertha Christina Rankin

Albert James Mann
Bertha Christina Rankin
💍 1917/5573

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant

20
24

Wellington
Wellington

Life
3 years

St. Thomas' Church Wellington South

5181

William Mann, father

1 October 1917

Rev. W. Fancourt

No	777
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Mann	Bertha Christina Rankin
	💍 1917/5573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Thomas' Church Wellington South
Folio	5181
Consent	William Mann, father
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Fancourt

778

1 October 1917

Charles George Stavely
Edith Percy Gribben

Charles George Staveley
Edith Percy Gribbin
💍 1917/5574

Divorced Decree Absolute 10/4/1913
Spinster

Farmer

43
30

Wellington
Wellington

4 Days
18 Months

Registrar's Office Wellington

5182

1 October 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	778
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles George Stavely	Edith Percy Gribben
BDM Match (95%)	Charles George Staveley	Edith Percy Gribbin
	💍 1917/5574
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 10/4/1913	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 Days	18 Months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5182
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

779

1 October 1917

Percy Walter Staples
Maud Annie Cook

Percy Walter Staples
Maud Annie Cook
💍 1917/5575

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist

34
33

Wellington
Wellington

5 years
32 years

St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington

5183

1 October 1917

Rev. A. M. Johnson

No	779
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Walter Staples	Maud Annie Cook
	💍 1917/5575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Wellington
Folio	5183
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Johnson

780

1 October 1917

Alfred Hastings
Charlotte Roper Hobbs

Alfred Hastings
Charlotte Roper Hobbs
💍 1917/5576

Widower 3/3/1916
Widow 15/10/1911

Butcher

47
43

Johnsonville
Khandallah

7 years
14 years

Registrar's Office Wellington

5184

1 October 1917

Deputy Registrar

No	780
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Hastings	Charlotte Roper Hobbs
	💍 1917/5576
Condition	Widower 3/3/1916	Widow 15/10/1911
Profession	Butcher
Age	47	43
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Khandallah
Length of Residence	7 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5184
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

781

1 October 1917

John Joseph Wattersen
Catherine Hannah Cullow

John Joseph Watterson
Catherine Hannah Callow
💍 1917/5553

Widower 8/4/1913
Spinster

Blacksmith

40
39

Ngaio Wellington
Brooklyn Wellington

15 years
30 years

St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington

5185

1 October 1917

Rev. H. Watson

No	781
Date of Notice	1 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Wattersen	Catherine Hannah Cullow
BDM Match (95%)	John Joseph Watterson	Catherine Hannah Callow
	💍 1917/5553
Condition	Widower 8/4/1913	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Ngaio Wellington	Brooklyn Wellington
Length of Residence	15 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church Willis Street Wellington
Folio	5185
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 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).