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 479

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar H. 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

202

1 December 1915

Patrick Henry Scragg
Florence Agnes Bratwick

Patrick Henry Scragg
Florence Agnes Gratwick
💍 1915/6126

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Cook

26
28

Patutahi, Gisborne
Gisborne

26 years
10 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8515

1 December 1915

Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	202
Date of Notice	1 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Henry Scragg	Florence Agnes Bratwick
BDM Match (98%)	Patrick Henry Scragg	Florence Agnes Gratwick
	💍 1915/6126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Cook
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Patutahi, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	26 years	10 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	8515
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

203

3 December 1915

Andrew Ramsey M.Ghee
Annie Mann

Andrew Ramsey McGhie
Annie Mann
💍 1915/6112

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
4 years

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

8527

3 December 1915

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

No	203
Date of Notice	3 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Ramsey M.Ghee	Annie Mann
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Ramsey McGhie	Annie Mann
	💍 1915/6112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	8527
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England

204

4 December 1915

Arthur Clarence Fook
Florence McHay

Arthur Clarence Cook
Florence McKay
💍 1915/6107

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Home duties

20
19

Matawri, Gisborne
Ormond, Gisborne

20 years
19 years

The Church of England Maerenga a hika Kisborne

8545

Richard John Fook Father Amy Rankin Mother

4 December 1915

Rev. Edgar Ward. Church of England.

No	204
Date of Notice	4 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Clarence Fook	Florence McHay
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Clarence Cook	Florence McKay
	💍 1915/6107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Home duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Matawri, Gisborne	Ormond, Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	The Church of England Maerenga a hika Kisborne
Folio	8545
Consent	Richard John Fook Father Amy Rankin Mother
Date of Certificate	4 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edgar Ward. Church of England.

205

8 December 1915

Donald Gordon McMillan
Eveleen Eliza Harris

Donald Gordon McMillan
Evaleen Eliza Harris
💍 1915/6106

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

28
26

Gisborne
Hangaroa, Gisborne

4 days
26 years

The residence of the Bride's Mother Avondale Station Hangaroa,

8544

8 December 1915

Rev. Henry Thomas Rawnsley Church of England

No	205
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Gordon McMillan	Eveleen Eliza Harris
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Gordon McMillan	Evaleen Eliza Harris
	💍 1915/6106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Hangaroa, Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	The residence of the Bride's Mother Avondale Station Hangaroa,
Folio	8544
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Henry Thomas Rawnsley Church of England

206

7 December 1915

Christopher George Harrison
Annie Somerton

Christopher George Harrison
Annie Somerton
💍 1915/6182

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic Servant

28
29

Kaiti, Gisborne
Clifford Street, Gisborne

3½ years
2½ years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Gisborne

8547

7 December 1915

Rev. James Millar Thomson Presbyterian Minister

No	206
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher George Harrison	Annie Somerton
	💍 1915/6182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic Servant
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Clifford Street, Gisborne
Length of Residence	3½ years	2½ years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church Gisborne
Folio	8547
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Millar Thomson Presbyterian 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).