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 454

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar W. B. Still

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

8 June 1915

William Riddell
Eleanor Isabella Shaw

William Riddell
Elleanor Isabella Shaw
💍 1915/1235

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic Duties

31
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
Life

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3125

8 June 1915

Rev. Geo. Theo. Barrow. Presbyterian Minister

No	87
Date of Notice	8 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Riddell	Eleanor Isabella Shaw
BDM Match (98%)	William Riddell	Elleanor Isabella Shaw
	💍 1915/1235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3125
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Theo. Barrow. Presbyterian Minister

8 June 1915

Edward James Gibbon
Gladys Cole

Edward James Ribbon
Gladys Cole
💍 1915/1236

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Servant

27
24

Ormond Poverty Bay
Gisborne

6 years
3 years

Holy Trinity Church. Gisborne

3126

8 June 1915

Rev. Archdon Parke. (Church of England).

No	88
Date of Notice	8 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Gibbon	Gladys Cole
BDM Match (97%)	Edward James Ribbon	Gladys Cole
	💍 1915/1236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Servant
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Ormond Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church. Gisborne
Folio	3126
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdon Parke. (Church of England).

8 June 1915

John Sydney Ferris
Annie Williams

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

About 20 years
16 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

8 June 1915

Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

No	89
Date of Notice	8 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Sydney Ferris	Annie Williams
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	About 20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

10 June 1915

William Henry Priestley
Ethel Bearpark

William Henry Priestley
Ethel Bearpark
💍 1915/1242

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Domestic Servant

28
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 1/2 years
1 1/2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

3108

10 June 1915

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	90
Date of Notice	10 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Priestley	Ethel Bearpark
	💍 1915/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Domestic Servant
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne
Folio	3108
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

16 June 1915

Gordon Arthur Muir
Mary Ann Johanson

Gordon Arthur Trim
Mary Ann Johnson
💍 1915/1232

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Dressmaker

23
21

Gisborne
Bright Street Gisborne

2 years
8 years

Methodist Parsonage

3122

16 June 1915

Rev. Robert Raine. Methodist Minister

No	91
Date of Notice	16 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Arthur Muir	Mary Ann Johanson
BDM Match (89%)	Gordon Arthur Trim	Mary Ann Johnson
	💍 1915/1232
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Bright Street Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage
Folio	3122
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine. Methodist 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).