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 345

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Obulson

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

1661

13 December 1915

Henry Thomas Southall
Lena Adam Stephenson Johnston

Henry Thomas McGrath
Lena Adams McPherson Johnston
💍 1915/5547

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

26
21

Auckland
Auckland

3 yrs S. Andrews
3 yrs Auckland

Grange

7881

13 December 1915

Rev. a.a. Fuman Presby. Union

No	1661
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Southall	Lena Adam Stephenson Johnston
BDM Match (73%)	Henry Thomas McGrath	Lena Adams McPherson Johnston
	💍 1915/5547
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 yrs S. Andrews	3 yrs Auckland
Marriage Place	Grange
Folio	7881
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. a.a. Fuman Presby. Union

1662

13 December 1915

Herbert Incheby Doster
Constance Mabel Morris

Herbert Ingleby Foster
Constance May Morris
💍 1915/5168

Bachelor
Spinster

Architect

41
35

Auckland
Wellington

9 mos S. Peters
from wellington 9.6.

From Wellington

13 December 1915

Arch. C. P. Harper Anglican

No	1662
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Incheby Doster	Constance Mabel Morris
BDM Match (86%)	Herbert Ingleby Foster	Constance May Morris
	💍 1915/5168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Architect
Age	41	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Wellington
Length of Residence	9 mos S. Peters	from wellington 9.6.
Marriage Place	From Wellington
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Arch. C. P. Harper Anglican

1663

13 December 1915

Frederick James Mason
Edna Marsden

Frederick James Mason
Edna Marsden
💍 1915/5548

Bachelor
Spinster

Postmaster

22
23

Auckland
Auckland

3 yrs P. Methodist Church
3 yrs Rympland

7882

13 December 1915

Rev. P. P. Harrison Methodist

No	1663
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick James Mason	Edna Marsden
	💍 1915/5548
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 yrs P. Methodist Church	3 yrs Rympland
Marriage Place
Folio	7882
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. P. Harrison Methodist

1664

13 December 1915

Harry Vogt
Luna Hillicent Hooker

Harry Coght
Lura Millicent Hooker
💍 1915/5549

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

5 yrs S. Barnabas Church
6 yrs Mt Eden

7883

13 December 1915

Rev. E. G. Garland Anglican

No	1664
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Vogt	Luna Hillicent Hooker
BDM Match (86%)	Harry Coght	Lura Millicent Hooker
	💍 1915/5549
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 yrs S. Barnabas Church	6 yrs Mt Eden
Marriage Place
Folio	7883
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. G. Garland Anglican

1665

13 December 1915

Walter Edgar Chambers
Kate Alice Warner

Walter Edgar Chambers
Kate Alice Warner
💍 1915/5551

Widower
Spinster

Postmaster

34
38

Auckland
Auckland

4 yrs Methodist Church
2 yrs Mt Eden

7884

13 December 1915

Rev. J. S. Ryklling Methodist

No	1665
Date of Notice	13 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edgar Chambers	Kate Alice Warner
	💍 1915/5551
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster
Age	34	38
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 yrs Methodist Church	2 yrs Mt Eden
Marriage Place
Folio	7884
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. S. Ryklling Methodist

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).