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 313

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

2 March 1912

Henry Ernest Thompson
Daisy Thompson

Henry Ernest Drummond
Daisy Thompson
💍 1912/685

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Servant

22
19

Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Poverty Bay

8 years
Life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12/334

Edward Thompson (Father)

23 March 1912

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	47
Date of Notice	2 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ernest Thompson	Daisy Thompson
BDM Match (86%)	Henry Ernest Drummond	Daisy Thompson
	💍 1912/685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Servant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka, Poverty Bay	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	12/334
Consent	Edward Thompson (Father)
Date of Certificate	23 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

2 March 1912

John Henry Beecher
Frances Mary Fitzsimmons

John Henry Beecher
Frances May Fitzsimmons
💍 1912/1372

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

29
25

Gisborne
Waerenga-a-hika

5 years
Life

St. Luke's Church, Waerenga-a-hika

12/974

2 March 1912

Matthew Wm. Butterfield, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	2 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Beecher	Frances Mary Fitzsimmons
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Beecher	Frances May Fitzsimmons
	💍 1912/1372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Waerenga-a-hika
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Waerenga-a-hika
Folio	12/974
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Matthew Wm. Butterfield, Church of England

2 March 1912

Frederick Charles Chitty
Myrtle Andrew

Frederick Charles Chitty
Myrtle Andrew
💍 1912/3999

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Housemaid

24
21

Kaiti, Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
Life

Wesleyan Church, Gisborne

12/3703

2 March 1912

Rev. John F. Kochore, Methodist Minister

No	49
Date of Notice	2 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Charles Chitty	Myrtle Andrew
	💍 1912/3999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Housemaid
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Gisborne
Folio	12/3703
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. John F. Kochore, Methodist Minister

2 March 1912

Guy Nelson King
Hazel Bell King

Guy Nelson King
Hazel Dell Lang
💍 1912/3155

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

22
22

Napier, Hawkes Bay
Gisborne, Poverty Bay

15 years
7 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

12/2906

2 March 1912

Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	2 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Guy Nelson King	Hazel Bell King
BDM Match (90%)	Guy Nelson King	Hazel Dell Lang
	💍 1912/3155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Napier, Hawkes Bay	Gisborne, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	15 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	12/2906
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leslie Dawson Thomas, Church of England

28 March 1912

Ernest Victor Heffernan
Marguerite Clark

Ernest Victor Hefferman
Margaret Clark
💍 1912/1366

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic Servant

23
19

Gisborne
Te Hapara, Gisborne

8 years
Life

Private Residence of the bride's parents, Te Hapara

12/969

28 March 1912

Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

No	51
Date of Notice	28 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Victor Heffernan	Marguerite Clark
BDM Match (85%)	Ernest Victor Hefferman	Margaret Clark
	💍 1912/1366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic Servant
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Te Hapara, Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the bride's parents, Te Hapara
Folio	12/969
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Grant, Presbyterian Minister

30 March 1912

Rata te Mamo
(Aboriginal Native of NZ)
Meri Mauhana
(Aboriginal Native of NZ)

Rata te Momo
Meri Mauhana
💍 1912/684

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
4 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12/333

30 March 1912

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	52
Date of Notice	30 March 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rata te Mamo (Aboriginal Native of NZ)	Meri Mauhana (Aboriginal Native of NZ)
BDM Match (96%)	Rata te Momo	Meri Mauhana
	💍 1912/684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	12/333
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1912
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).