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 1344

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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

123

11 October 1917

George Duncan
Dorothy Elizabeth Frances Mary Brooks

George Duncan
Dorothy Elizabeth Frances Mary Brooks
💍 1917/6199

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

33
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 months

Registrars Office Palmerston North

6085

11 October 1917

C. E. Shortt Registrar

No	123
Date of Notice	11 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Duncan	Dorothy Elizabeth Frances Mary Brooks
	💍 1917/6199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Palmerston North
Folio	6085
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1917
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt Registrar

124

15 October 1917

Harold Bert Wallace
Elizabeth Ellen Hicks

Harold Bert Wallace
Elizabeth Ellen Hicks
💍 1917/6200

Bachelor
Spinster

Groom
Domestic

29
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 months

Residence of Mr R. W. Reaburn 3 East Street Palmerston North

6086

15 October 1917

Rev Alex Doull Presbyterian

No	124
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Bert Wallace	Elizabeth Ellen Hicks
	💍 1917/6200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Groom	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. W. Reaburn 3 East Street Palmerston North
Folio	6086
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Alex Doull Presbyterian

125

18 October 1917

John Gibson Dearlove
Lizzie Jane Grace Gordon

John Gibson Dearlove
Lizzie Jane Grace Gordon
💍 1917/6201

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Domestic

23
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
12 years

St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North

6087

18 October 1917

Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

No	125
Date of Notice	18 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gibson Dearlove	Lizzie Jane Grace Gordon
	💍 1917/6201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Domestic
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church Broad Street Palmerston North
Folio	6087
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev F. W. Boys Methodist

126

26 October 1917

Herbert James Lodge
Hilda Margaret Morgans

Herbert James Lodge
Hilda Margaret Morgans
💍 1917/592

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

33
32

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

6088

26 October 1917

Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

No	126
Date of Notice	26 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Lodge	Hilda Margaret Morgans
	💍 1917/592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	6088
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne Anglican

127

29 October 1917

Archie Norman Pleass
May McLachlan

Archie Norman Pleass
May McLachlan
💍 1917/596

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

34
32

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

7 days
3 months

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North

6089

29 October 1917

Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	29 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archie Norman Pleass	May McLachlan
	💍 1917/596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	34	32
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 days	3 months
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church Palmerston North
Folio	6089
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull Presbyterian

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).