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 461

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar W. G. 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

115

19 July 1915

Reginald Arthur Green
Rachel Grant

Reginald Arthur Green
Rachel Grant
💍 1915/7125

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier Expeditionary Forces
Domestic Duties

36
38

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 months
15 months

Presbyterian Manse, Childers Road Gisborne

9638

19 July 1915

Rev Geo Thos Brown, Presbyterian Minister

No	115
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Arthur Green	Rachel Grant
	💍 1915/7125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier Expeditionary Forces	Domestic Duties
Age	36	38
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Childers Road Gisborne
Folio	9638
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Thos Brown, Presbyterian Minister

116

20 July 1915

Walter Beacham (H.C.)
Thelma Patène (H.C.)

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Te Arai Poverty Bay
Te Arai Gisborne

10 years
Life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

5082

20 July 1915

No	116
Date of Notice	20 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Beacham (H.C.)	Thelma Patène (H.C.)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Te Arai Poverty Bay	Te Arai Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	5082
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1915
Officiating Minister

117

20 July 1915

Walter Jones
Myrtle Andrews

Walter Jones
Myrtle Andrews
💍 1915/3016

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

26
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 months
3 months

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

5098

Charles Andrews (Father)

20 July 1915

No	117
Date of Notice	20 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Jones	Myrtle Andrews
	💍 1915/3016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	5098
Consent	Charles Andrews (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 July 1915
Officiating Minister

118

26 July 1915

Edward Victor Festow
Emilie Teason Robinson

Edward Victor Featon
Emily Deason Robinson
💍 1915/2925

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

42
40

Gisborne
Gisborne

38 years
36 years

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

5101

26 July 1915

No	118
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Victor Festow	Emilie Teason Robinson
BDM Match (88%)	Edward Victor Featon	Emily Deason Robinson
	💍 1915/2925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	38 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	5101
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister

119

26 July 1915

Ernest Edward Howden
Janet Johnstone

Ernest Edward Hunter
Janet Johnstone
💍 1915/3014

Bachelor
Spinster

Linformer
Tailoress

29
29

Mahakani Poverty Bay
Gisborne

6 years

Private residence of the brother of bride, 113 Ormond Road Whataupoko

5096

26 July 1915

No	119
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Edward Howden	Janet Johnstone
BDM Match (90%)	Ernest Edward Hunter	Janet Johnstone
	💍 1915/3014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linformer	Tailoress
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Mahakani Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the brother of bride, 113 Ormond Road Whataupoko
Folio	5096
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating 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).