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 452

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1915 Registrar Wm. O'Meile

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

19 May 1915

Walter Channey Jones
Mary Catherine Morris

Walter Chamney Jones
Catherine May Morris
💍 1915/1263

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
24

Gisborne
Te Karaka

4 days
life

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

3130

19 May 1915

Rev Geo Wellham Watson Church of England (Te Karaka).

No	77
Date of Notice	19 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Channey Jones	Mary Catherine Morris
BDM Match (76%)	Walter Chamney Jones	Catherine May Morris
	💍 1915/1263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	4 days	life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	3130
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo Wellham Watson Church of England (Te Karaka).

19 May 1915

Stewart Peters
Maude Mary Bass

Stewart Peters
Maude Mary Bass
💍 1915/1233

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

24
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 months
4 months

The Wesley an Church Bright Street Gisborne

3123

19 May 1915

Rev Robert Raine Methodist Minister

No	78
Date of Notice	19 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stewart Peters	Maude Mary Bass
	💍 1915/1233
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	The Wesley an Church Bright Street Gisborne
Folio	3123
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Raine Methodist Minister

24 May 1915

William Henry Jones
Lilian Eileen Elizabeth Appleton

William Henry Jones
Lilian Eileen Elizabeth Appleton
💍 1915/1255

Bachelor
Spinster

Yardman Timber Mills
Domestic Servant

27
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
1 1/2 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3128

24 May 1915

Rev Geo The Brown Presbyterian Minister).

No	79
Date of Notice	24 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jones	Lilian Eileen Elizabeth Appleton
	💍 1915/1255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yardman Timber Mills	Domestic Servant
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3128
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo The Brown Presbyterian Minister).

29 May 1915

George Edward Varton
Louisa Jane Stephenson

George Edward Darton
Louisa Jane Stephenson
💍 1915/4649

Divorced
Spinster

Surveyor's Assistant
Schoolteacher

42
36

Gisborne
Matawhero

3 days (17 years)
life

Private Residence of the Bride's parents Matawhero.

6798

29 May 1915

Rev Edgar Ward Church of England. (Waerenga-a-hika)

No	80
Date of Notice	29 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Varton	Louisa Jane Stephenson
BDM Match (98%)	George Edward Darton	Louisa Jane Stephenson
	💍 1915/4649
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor's Assistant	Schoolteacher
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Matawhero
Length of Residence	3 days (17 years)	life
Marriage Place	Private Residence of the Bride's parents Matawhero.
Folio	6798
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Edgar Ward Church of England. (Waerenga-a-hika)

1 June 1915

Albert Swives
Clara Lily Brown

Albert Simes
Clara Lily Brown
💍 1915/1244

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Servant

30
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
2 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church

3127

1 June 1915

Rev Alfred H. Wheeldon Presbyterian Church.

No	81
Date of Notice	1 June 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Swives	Clara Lily Brown
BDM Match (92%)	Albert Simes	Clara Lily Brown
	💍 1915/1244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Servant
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church
Folio	3127
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Alfred H. Wheeldon Presbyterian Church.

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).