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 480

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Flo. 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

207

7 December 1915

William John Smith
Margaret Jane Gardner

William John Smith
Margaret Jane Gardner
💍 1915/6193

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Home duties

39
25

Matawhero Poverty Bay
Matawhero Poverty Bay

3 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church

8548

7 December 1915

Rev. Alfred Hadfield Wheeldon Presbyterian Minister

No	207
Date of Notice	7 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Smith	Margaret Jane Gardner
	💍 1915/6193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Home duties
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Matawhero Poverty Bay	Matawhero Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	8548
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hadfield Wheeldon Presbyterian Minister

208

8 December 1915

Cecil John Hyland
Annie Evelyn Jones

Cecil John Hyland
Annie Evelyn Jones
💍 1915/6105

Widower
Spinster

Drover
Home duties

27
21

Haerenga-a-hika, Gisborne
Makauri, Gisborne

27 years
21 years

the private residence of Mr. C. Johnstone

8543

8 December 1915

Rev. Alfred Hadfield Wheeldon Presbyterian Minister

No	208
Date of Notice	8 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Hyland	Annie Evelyn Jones
	💍 1915/6105
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Home duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Haerenga-a-hika, Gisborne	Makauri, Gisborne
Length of Residence	27 years	21 years
Marriage Place	the private residence of Mr. C. Johnstone
Folio	8543
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Alfred Hadfield Wheeldon Presbyterian Minister

209

11 December 1915

Arthur Thomas Wright
Henrietta Edith Lenton Cardon

Arthur Thomas Wright
Henrietta Edith Lenton Cardon
💍 1915/6128

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Cook

40
39

Waikohn, Poverty Bay
Waikohn, Poverty Bay

7 years
10 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

8516

11 December 1915

Henry Ewart Still Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	209
Date of Notice	11 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thomas Wright	Henrietta Edith Lenton Cardon
	💍 1915/6128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Cook
Age	40	39
Dwelling Place	Waikohn, Poverty Bay	Waikohn, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	8516
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Still Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

210

11 December 1915

James Baird
Louisa Maude Sneath

James Baird
Louisa Maude Sneath
💍 1916/3133

Bachelor
Spinster

Ploughman
Domestic Servant

28
24

Puha Poverty Bay
Narmata Gisborne

about 3 years
about 14 months

Holy Trinity Church of England

100

11 December 1916

Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England.

No	210
Date of Notice	11 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Baird	Louisa Maude Sneath
	💍 1916/3133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ploughman	Domestic Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Puha Poverty Bay	Narmata Gisborne
Length of Residence	about 3 years	about 14 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England
Folio	100
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Horace Packe Church of England.

211

18 December 1915

Herbert Louis Marshall Townsend
May Procter

Herbert Louis Marshall Townsend
May Procter
💍 1916/1121

Bachelor
Spinster

Time Keeper
Domestic duties

30
21

Matakaraka Gisborne
Ngatapa Gisborne

4 years
1 week

The office of the Registrar of Marriages

18 December 1915

Henry Ewart Still Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	211
Date of Notice	18 December 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Louis Marshall Townsend	May Procter
	💍 1916/1121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Time Keeper	Domestic duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Matakaraka Gisborne	Ngatapa Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	1 week
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages
Folio	57
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1915
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Still Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).