Intentions to Marry, 1912 Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840448, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 307

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1912 Registrar Henry Ewart Hill

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

3 January 1912

Ernest Sharples
Amelia Margaret Victoria Neill

Ernest Sharples
Amelia Margaret Victoria Neill
💍 1912/1373

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Dressmaker

29
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
6 years

Private residence of the bride's parents, 218 Whittaker Street, Gisborne

12/975

Rev. Thomas Cave, Roman Catholic Minister

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sharples	Amelia Margaret Victoria Neill
	💍 1912/1373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Dressmaker
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the bride's parents, 218 Whittaker Street, Gisborne
Folio	12/975
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Cave, Roman Catholic Minister

9 January 1912

Ernest Edward Dani Hooper
Floriana Rore

Ernest Edward Daiu Hooper
Horiana Rore
💍 1912/746

Widower
Widow

Licensed Native Interpreter
Domestic Duties

44
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

25 years
25 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12/320

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Dani Hooper	Floriana Rore
BDM Match (88%)	Ernest Edward Daiu Hooper	Horiana Rore
	💍 1912/746
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Licensed Native Interpreter	Domestic Duties
Age	44	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	25 years	25 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	12/320
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

9 January 1912

James Fielder
Elizabeth McDonald Law

James Fielder
Elizabeth McDonald Law
💍 1912/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

19 years
6 weeks

Private residence of Mr. R. S. Caulton, Sheehan Street, Whataupoko, Gisborne

12/981

Rev. Thomas Cave, Roman Catholic Minister

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Fielder	Elizabeth McDonald Law
	💍 1912/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	19 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. R. S. Caulton, Sheehan Street, Whataupoko, Gisborne
Folio	12/981
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Cave, Roman Catholic Minister

9 January 1912

Clifford Hood
Mary Ann Fraser

Clifford Hood
Mary Ann Fraser
💍 1912/1357

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
27

Gisborne
Nuhaka, East Coast

3 1/2 days
24 years

Private residence of the bride's residence homestead, Nuhaka

12/960

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Hood	Mary Ann Fraser
	💍 1912/1357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Nuhaka, East Coast
Length of Residence	3 1/2 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the bride's residence homestead, Nuhaka
Folio	12/960
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

13 January 1912

George Stairs
Margaret Edith Brandon McKenzie

George Stairs
Margaret Edith Brandon
💍 1912/747

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
House Help

28
26

Kanakania, Poverty Bay
Poverty Bay

3 years
1 year

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12/321

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	5
Date of Notice	13 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Stairs	Margaret Edith Brandon McKenzie
BDM Match (86%)	George Stairs	Margaret Edith Brandon
	💍 1912/747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	House Help
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Kanakania, Poverty Bay	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	12/321
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13 January 1912

Alan Brandon
Edith Jane Watt

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

26
27

Motu, Poverty Bay
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

1 month
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Patutahi

Rev. Henry Thomas Blair, Presbyterian Minister

No	6
Date of Notice	13 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Brandon	Edith Jane Watt
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Motu, Poverty Bay	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	1 month	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Patutahi
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Blair, Presbyterian Minister

15 January 1912

Osmond Edwin Rodbourne Huttrell
Ellen Margaret Mary Murphy

Esmond Edwin Rodburne Luttrell
Ellen Margaret Mary Murphy
💍 1912/1307

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Musician

21
23

Gisborne
Poverty Bay

1 year
17 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

12/976

Rev. Reginald Finn, Roman Catholic Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	15 January 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Osmond Edwin Rodbourne Huttrell	Ellen Margaret Mary Murphy
BDM Match (95%)	Esmond Edwin Rodburne Luttrell	Ellen Margaret Mary Murphy
	💍 1912/1307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Musician
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	1 year	17 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	12/976
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	Rev. Reginald Finn, Roman Catholic Minister

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).