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 451

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar H. Tyle

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

7 May 1915

George Mckenzie Stuart
Florence Black

George McKenzie Smart
Florence Black
💍 1915/1266

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

24
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 days
26 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3133

10 May 1915

Rev Geo. Thos. Brown, Presbyterian Minister

No	72
Date of Notice	7 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mckenzie Stuart	Florence Black
BDM Match (93%)	George McKenzie Smart	Florence Black
	💍 1915/1266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3133
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo. Thos. Brown, Presbyterian Minister

10 May 1915

Gustaf Mattson
Ellen Sarah Wright

Gustaf Mattson
Ellen Sarah Wright
💍 1915/1230

Bachelor
Widow

Seaman
Cook

32
32

Gisborne
Gisborne

1/2 years
About Poverty Bay, months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3103

10 May 1915

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	73
Date of Notice	10 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustaf Mattson	Ellen Sarah Wright
	💍 1915/1230
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Seaman	Cook
Age	32	32
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1/2 years	About Poverty Bay, months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3103
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

17 May 1915

Andrew Archibald Simpson
Grace Blanchard

Andrew Archibald Simpson
Grace Blanchard
💍 1915/1237

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Lady Help

28
30

Ngatapa, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

About months
About 5 Years Poverty Bay

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3104

17 May 1915

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	74
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Archibald Simpson	Grace Blanchard
	💍 1915/1237
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Lady Help
Age	28	30
Dwelling Place	Ngatapa, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	About months	About 5 Years Poverty Bay
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3104
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

17 May 1915

Alexander David Blair
Mary Jane Anderson Wallace

Alexander David Blair
Mary Jane Anderson Wallace
💍 1915/1265

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter Maker
Household Duties

22
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
4 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3132

17 May 1915

Rev. Geo. Thos. Brown, Presbyterian Minister

No	75
Date of Notice	17 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander David Blair	Mary Jane Anderson Wallace
	💍 1915/1265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter Maker	Household Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3132
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Thos. Brown, Presbyterian Minister

18 May 1915

Christian Ludwig Miller
Minnie Brennan

Christian Ludwig Muller
Minnie Brennan
💍 1915/10373

Bachelor
Married woman whose husband has been continually absent from her during the 7 years last past she not being aware if he was alive at any time during the 7 years last past. (Housekeeper)

Painter

45
40

Maupapapa
Gisborne

18 years 9 months
Maupapapa 15 years Gisborne

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3105

18 May 1915

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	76
Date of Notice	18 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Ludwig Miller	Minnie Brennan
BDM Match (98%)	Christian Ludwig Muller	Minnie Brennan
	💍 1915/10373
Condition	Bachelor	Married woman whose husband has been continually absent from her during the 7 years last past she not being aware if he was alive at any time during the 7 years last past. (Housekeeper)
Profession	Painter
Age	45	40
Dwelling Place	Maupapapa	Gisborne
Length of Residence	18 years 9 months	Maupapapa 15 years Gisborne
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3105
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1915
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).