Intentions to Marry, 1915 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840457, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 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.

1915a contains pages 1-518, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 041

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar [illegible]

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

161

8 February 1915

George August Muller
Delmary Cora May Bridges

George August Muller
Cora May Bridges
💍 1915/7679

Bachelor
Spinster

Chauffeur

26
18

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St. Matthew's Church

543

Owald Edward Bridges Father

8 February 1915

Rev. W.E. Gillam Anglican

No	161
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George August Muller	Delmary Cora May Bridges
BDM Match (79%)	George August Muller	Cora May Bridges
	💍 1915/7679
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chauffeur
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	543
Consent	Owald Edward Bridges Father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.E. Gillam Anglican

162

8 February 1915

Harold William Harris
Rita Ida Bailey

Harold William Harris
Rita Ida Bailey
💍 1915/7680

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

27
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
4 yrs

The Residence of the Bride's Mother, 'Claremont' Ascot Avenue Mt Eden Auckland

544

8 February 1915

Rev. E. A. Kirwood Baptist

No	162
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Harris	Rita Ida Bailey
BDM Match (94%)	Harold William Harris	Rita Ida Bailey
	💍 1915/7680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	4 yrs
Marriage Place	The Residence of the Bride's Mother, 'Claremont' Ascot Avenue Mt Eden Auckland
Folio	544
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. Kirwood Baptist

163

8 February 1915

Robert John Francis Wilson
Niagara Watson

Robert John Francis Wilson
Niagara Watson
💍 1915/7915

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

23
24

Auckland
Auckland

14 yrs
21 yrs

St. Stephen's Church, Ponsonby

1711

8 February 1915

Rev. I. Jolly Presbyterian

No	163
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Francis Wilson	Niagara Watson
BDM Match (95%)	Robert John Francis Wilson	Niagara Watson
	💍 1915/7915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	14 yrs	21 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	1711
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. Jolly Presbyterian

164

8 February 1915

John Reginald Taylor
Annie Taylor Gladstone Ewing

John Reginald Taylor
Annie Taylor Gladstone Ewing
💍 1915/8472

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

life
8 mths

House of Bride's mother 38 Walters Road Kingsland

521

Helen Wallace formerly Ewing Mother

8 February 1915

Mr. J. Bissett Central Mission

No	164
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reginald Taylor	Annie Taylor Gladstone Ewing
BDM Match (96%)	John Reginald Taylor	Annie Taylor Gladstone Ewing
	💍 1915/8472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	life	8 mths
Marriage Place	House of Bride's mother 38 Walters Road Kingsland
Folio	521
Consent	Helen Wallace formerly Ewing Mother
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. Bissett Central Mission

165

8 February 1915

Frank Holden Seccombe
Margaret Dobson

Frank Holden Seccombe
Margaret Dobson
💍 1915/7671

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
29

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
29 yrs

St. Mark's Church Remuera

535

8 February 1915

Rev. W. Beatty, MA Anglican

No	165
Date of Notice	8 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Holden Seccombe	Margaret Dobson
BDM Match (94%)	Frank Holden Seccombe	Margaret Dobson
	💍 1915/7671
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	29 yrs
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church Remuera
Folio	535
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, MA Anglican

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).