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 1616

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 December 1914 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

812

12 October 1914

Henry Donaldson
Ellen Louisa Tucker

Henry Donaldson
Ellen Louisa Tucker
💍 1917/5580

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

30
25

Trentham
Wellington

14 days
8 days

St. David's Church Upper Hutt

5213

12 October 1914

Rev. F. J. Usher

No	812
Date of Notice	12 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Donaldson	Ellen Louisa Tucker
	💍 1917/5580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Trentham	Wellington
Length of Residence	14 days	8 days
Marriage Place	St. David's Church Upper Hutt
Folio	5213
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Usher

813

12 October 1914

Cyril Ashton Corder
Hazel Augusta Speed

Cyril Ashton Corder
Hazel Augusta Speed
💍 1917/5581

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

25
20

Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie

3 days
15 years

Presbyterian Manse 12 Vallance Street Kilbirnie

5214

Augusta Norris Speed Mother Wellington

12 October 1914

Rev. H. Beggs

No	813
Date of Notice	12 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Ashton Corder	Hazel Augusta Speed
	💍 1917/5581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Kilbirnie	Kilbirnie
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse 12 Vallance Street Kilbirnie
Folio	5214
Consent	Augusta Norris Speed Mother Wellington
Date of Certificate	12 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Beggs

814

13 October 1914

William George Gray
Annie Esther Morrison

William George Keay
Annie Esther Morrison
💍 1917/5582

Bachelor
Divorcee Decree absolute 6/12/1901

Boarding House Keeper

46
42

Wellington
Wellington

20 years
16 years

The residence of David Oliver 10 Harriett Street Wellington

5215

13 October 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott D.D.

No	814
Date of Notice	13 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Gray	Annie Esther Morrison
BDM Match (95%)	William George Keay	Annie Esther Morrison
	💍 1917/5582
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee Decree absolute 6/12/1901
Profession	Boarding House Keeper
Age	46	42
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	The residence of David Oliver 10 Harriett Street Wellington
Folio	5215
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott D.D.

815

15 October 1914

David Thomas
Annie Kelly

David Thomas
Cassie Kelly
💍 1917/5583

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer

27
26

Wellington
Wellington

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office Wellington

5216

15 October 1914

R. G. Poulton Deputy Registrar

No	815
Date of Notice	15 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Thomas	Annie Kelly
BDM Match (83%)	David Thomas	Cassie Kelly
	💍 1917/5583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Wellington
Folio	5216
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1914
Officiating Minister	R. G. Poulton Deputy Registrar

816

15 October 1914

James Gowing Godwin
Violet Eva Jackson

James Gorring Godwin
Violet Eva Jackson
💍 1917/5584

Divorcee Decree absolute 17/9/14
Spinster

Wool Buyer

41
22

Wellington
Wellington

4 days
3 days

The residence of Mr. Godwin 11 Levy Street Wellington

5217

15 October 1914

Rev. J. K. Elliott

No	816
Date of Notice	15 October 1914
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Gowing Godwin	Violet Eva Jackson
BDM Match (95%)	James Gorring Godwin	Violet Eva Jackson
	💍 1917/5584
Condition	Divorcee Decree absolute 17/9/14	Spinster
Profession	Wool Buyer
Age	41	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr. Godwin 11 Levy Street Wellington
Folio	5217
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1914
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott

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).