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 494

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar L La Seator

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

6 February 1915

William Clarkin
Rebecca Josephine Curtain

William Clarkin
Rebecca Josephine Curtain
💍 1915/2824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

27
28

Hamilton
Hamilton

27 years
12 months

Roman Catholic Church

4907

6 February 1915

Dean Darby

No	8
Date of Notice	6 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Clarkin	Rebecca Josephine Curtain
	💍 1915/2824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	27 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	4907
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Dean Darby

11 February 1915

William James Renner
Ellen Emma Poll

William James Renner
Ellen Emma Poll
💍 1915/8581

Divorced
Divorced

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

34
36

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
3 days

Methodist Church

682

11 February 1915

Rev. Jas. Wrigley

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Renner	Ellen Emma Poll
	💍 1915/8581
Condition	Divorced	Divorced
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	682
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Wrigley

15 February 1915

Samuel Still Campbell
Margaret Wilhelmani Cumming

Samuel Hill Campbell
Margaret Wilhelmina Cumming
💍 1915/8580

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
18

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Church

681

John Cumming Father

15 February 1915

Rev. Gow

No	10
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Still Campbell	Margaret Wilhelmani Cumming
BDM Match (92%)	Samuel Hill Campbell	Margaret Wilhelmina Cumming
	💍 1915/8580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	681
Consent	John Cumming Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gow

27 February 1915

Richard Nathaniel Pilkington
Sarah Best

Richard Nathaniel Pilkington
Sarah Best
💍 1915/8623

Widower
Widow

Engineer
Domestic

35
32

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
4 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages

673

27 February 1915

T. L. Seator. Registrar.

No	11
Date of Notice	27 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Nathaniel Pilkington	Sarah Best
	💍 1915/8623
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	673
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1915
Officiating Minister	T. L. Seator. Registrar.

4 March 1915

Edward Booth
Ethel May Davies

Edward Booth
Ethel May Davies
💍 1915/8579

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
24

Claudelands
Claudelands

10 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church

680

4 March 1915

Rev. A. Gow.

No	12
Date of Notice	4 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Booth	Ethel May Davies
	💍 1915/8579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Claudelands	Claudelands
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	680
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Gow.

6 March 1915

William Charles Henry Ludwig
Isabel Fickel Penny

William Charles Henry Ludwig
Isabel Tickelpenny
💍 1915/8624

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
27

Hamilton
Hamilton

1 week
1 week

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Hamilton

674

6 March 1915

T. L. Seator. Registrar.

No	13
Date of Notice	6 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Henry Ludwig	Isabel Fickel Penny
BDM Match (92%)	William Charles Henry Ludwig	Isabel Tickelpenny
	💍 1915/8624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Hamilton
Folio	674
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1915
Officiating Minister	T. L. Seator. Registrar.

8 March 1915

William Wilson Higginson
Kate Eliza Higginson

William Wilson
Kate Eliza Higginson
💍 1915/8578

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
22

Whata Whata
Hamilton

25 year
14 years

Presbyterian Church

679

8 March 1915

Rev. Alex Gow.

No	14
Date of Notice	8 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilson Higginson	Kate Eliza Higginson
BDM Match (79%)	William Wilson	Kate Eliza Higginson
	💍 1915/8578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Whata Whata	Hamilton
Length of Residence	25 year	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	679
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alex Gow.

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).