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 441

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar F. K. Hille

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

22 February 1915

William Gillen Severy
Florence Annie Golden

William Gillen Devery
Florence Annie Holden
💍 1915/8615

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Masseuse

27
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
4 days

Private residence of W.T. G. Jackson, Te Uka, Poverty Bay

665

22nd February 1915

Rev. Cornelius Jansen, Roman Catholic Minister, Ormond.

No	31
Date of Notice	22 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gillen Severy	Florence Annie Golden
BDM Match (95%)	William Gillen Devery	Florence Annie Holden
	💍 1915/8615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Masseuse
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of W.T. G. Jackson, Te Uka, Poverty Bay
Folio	665
Consent
Date of Certificate	22nd February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Cornelius Jansen, Roman Catholic Minister, Ormond.

23rd February 1915

Hilary James Tolley
Nellie Constance Foley

Hillery James Elley
Nellie Constance Foley
💍 1915/7981

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Dressmaker.

26
25

Gisborne
Poverty Bay

10 months
5 months

Holy Trinity Church

23rd February 1915

Rev. Matthew William Butterfield (Church of England)

No	32
Date of Notice	23rd February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hilary James Tolley	Nellie Constance Foley
BDM Match (89%)	Hillery James Elley	Nellie Constance Foley
	💍 1915/7981
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Dressmaker.
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	10 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	23rd February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Matthew William Butterfield (Church of England)

25th February 1915

William Witters
Eliza Ann Maxwell

William Witters
Eliza Anne Maxwell
💍 1915/8612

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

33
23

Mahauri
Poverty Bay

Life
7 years.

Private residence of Mr. S. Witters, brother of the bridegroom

662

25th February 1915

Rev. Alfred Broadfield, Wheelden, Presbyterian Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	25th February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Witters	Eliza Ann Maxwell
BDM Match (97%)	William Witters	Eliza Anne Maxwell
	💍 1915/8612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Mahauri	Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	Life	7 years.
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. S. Witters, brother of the bridegroom
Folio	662
Consent
Date of Certificate	25th February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Broadfield, Wheelden, Presbyterian Minister

27 February 1915

Harry Daniel Pritchard
Catherine Margaret Tracey.

Harry Daniel Pritchard
Catherine Margaret Tracey
💍 1915/7982

Widower
Spinster

Boiler Maker
House maid

42
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
2 years

Holy Trinity Church

27th February 1915

Rev. Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

No	34
Date of Notice	27 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Daniel Pritchard	Catherine Margaret Tracey.
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Daniel Pritchard	Catherine Margaret Tracey
	💍 1915/7982
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Boiler Maker	House maid
Age	42	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	27th February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

1st March 1915

Percy George Powell
Ada Clara Warren

Percy George Powell
Ada Clara Warren
💍 1915/8620

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer.
Domestic Servant

29
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 months
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages

652

1st March 1915.

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	35
Date of Notice	1st March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy George Powell	Ada Clara Warren
	💍 1915/8620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer.	Domestic Servant
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	652
Consent
Date of Certificate	1st March 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).