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 1316

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar A. Short

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

15 January 1917

Thomas McArthur
Ellen Fisk

Thomas McArthur
Ellen Fisk
💍 1917/1981

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

45
42

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
2 weeks

Residence of Mr H. Grover, 148 Church Street East, Palmerston North

1118

15 January 1917

Rev All. M. Aspland, Congregational

No	6
Date of Notice	15 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McArthur	Ellen Fisk
	💍 1917/1981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	45	42
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr H. Grover, 148 Church Street East, Palmerston North
Folio	1118
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev All. M. Aspland, Congregational

15 January 1917

Edward Brice Killen Gordon
Mary Alexandra Grant

Edward Brice Killen Gordon
Mary Alexandra Grant
💍 1917/1985

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

31
31

Taoroa
Palmerston North

4 years
1 week

Residence of Mrs J. S. Grant, 75 Fitzherbert Street, Palmerston North

1121

15 January 1917

Rev R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	15 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Brice Killen Gordon	Mary Alexandra Grant
	💍 1917/1985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Taoroa	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. S. Grant, 75 Fitzherbert Street, Palmerston North
Folio	1121
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Catherwood, Presbyterian

20 January 1917

Reginald Bertie Lambert
Mary Wetherall McKay

Reginald Bertie Lambert
Mary Wetherall McKay
💍 1917/1986

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Accountant
Domestic

34
27

Palmerston North
Dunedin

2 weeks
10 months

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1122

20 January 1917

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	20 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Bertie Lambert	Mary Wetherall McKay
	💍 1917/1986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Accountant	Domestic
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Dunedin
Length of Residence	2 weeks	10 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1122
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

3 February 1917

Norman Francis Hooper
Doris Malvenia Boon

Norman Francis Hooper
Doris Malvenia Boon
💍 1917/1987

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookkeeper
Shop assistant

27
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 years
24 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

1123

3 February 1917

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	3 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Francis Hooper	Doris Malvenia Boon
	💍 1917/1987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookkeeper	Shop assistant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 years	24 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	1123
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

8 February 1917

Louis Arnold Richards
Ida Josephine Mooney

Louis Arnold Richards
Ida Josephine Mooney
💍 1917/1988

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier, Blacksmith
Domestic

25
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 year

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North

1124

8 February 1917

Rev J. M. McManus, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	8 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Arnold Richards	Ida Josephine Mooney
	💍 1917/1988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier, Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1124
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. M. McManus, Roman Catholic

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).