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 442

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar H. S. 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

2 March 1915

Richard Teddy
Maggie Parsons

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
18

Ormond Poverty Bay
Ormond Poverty Bay.

life
3 years

Private residence of the bride's parents

Alexander Parsons (Father)

2 March 1915

Rev Edgar Ward Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	2 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Teddy	Maggie Parsons
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Ormond Poverty Bay	Ormond Poverty Bay.
Length of Residence	life	3 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the bride's parents
Folio
Consent	Alexander Parsons (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Edgar Ward Church of England

2 March 1915

Walter James Hick
Edith Alma Pearce

Walter John Hick
Edith Alma Pearce
💍 1915/1256

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Tea Rooms Manager.

27
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

life
5 months

Methodist Church, Bright Street

3146

2 March 1915

Rev Robert Rawie Methodist Minister

No	37
Date of Notice	2 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Hick	Edith Alma Pearce
BDM Match (88%)	Walter John Hick	Edith Alma Pearce
	💍 1915/1256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Tea Rooms Manager.
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	life	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bright Street
Folio	3146
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Rawie Methodist Minister

3 March 1915

Olaf Haugan
Harriet Mary Lloyd

Olaf Haugan
Harriet Mary Lloyd
💍 1915/8627

Bachelor
Widow

Sailor
Domestic Duties

52
42

Kaiti
Kaiti Gisborne

2 years
24 years.

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

653

3 March 1915

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	38
Date of Notice	3 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olaf Haugan	Harriet Mary Lloyd
	💍 1915/8627
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sailor	Domestic Duties
Age	52	42
Dwelling Place	Kaiti	Kaiti Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years.
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	653
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

5 March 1915

David Stewart Thompson
Adelaide Sarah Wilson

David Stewart Thompson
Adelaide Sarah Wilson
💍 1915/7979

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Accountant
Domestic Duties

37
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
4 years.

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne.

1853

5 March 1915

Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

No	39
Date of Notice	5 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Stewart Thompson	Adelaide Sarah Wilson
	💍 1915/7979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years.
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne.
Folio	1853
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

6 March 1915

Archibald Frank Summerhays
Una Millicent Treweek

Archibald Frank Summerhays
Una Millicent Treweek
💍 1915/7980

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman W.Z. Railways
Lady Help

27
22

Gisborne Poverty Bay
Gisborne

12 months
5 days

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne.

1854

6 March 1915

Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

No	40
Date of Notice	6 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Frank Summerhays	Una Millicent Treweek
	💍 1915/7980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman W.Z. Railways	Lady Help
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne.
Folio	1854
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

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).