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 440

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31st day of 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

15 February 1915

John Pierce
Mary Rosina Clarkson

John Pierce
Mary Rosina Clarkson
💍 1915/8551

Widower
Spinster

French Polisher.
Housekeeper.

63
43

Gisborne
Gisborne

39 years.
25 years.

The office of the Registrar of Marriages.

15/650

1st February 1915

Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

No	26
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pierce	Mary Rosina Clarkson
	💍 1915/8551
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	French Polisher.	Housekeeper.
Age	63	43
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	39 years.	25 years.
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages.
Folio	15/650
Consent
Date of Certificate	1st February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

15 February 1915

Charles Henry Graham
Sarah Jennings Forbes

Charles Lewis Graham
Sarah Jennings Forbes
💍 1915/7984

Bachelor
Widow

Contractor
Lady Help

32
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 years.
2 years.

Holy Trinity Church of England.

15/1858

1st February 1915

Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

No	27
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Graham	Sarah Jennings Forbes
BDM Match (90%)	Charles Lewis Graham	Sarah Jennings Forbes
	💍 1915/7984
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Contractor	Lady Help
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years.	2 years.
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England.
Folio	15/1858
Consent
Date of Certificate	1st February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Matthew William Butterfield Church of England.

16 February 1915

George Edward Hayes
Ida. Oldham.

George Edward Hayes
Ida Oldham
💍 1915/8609

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer.
Domestic Duties

28
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

15 years.
14 years.

The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

15/651

16th February 1915

Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

No	28
Date of Notice	16 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Hayes	Ida. Oldham.
BDM Match (92%)	George Edward Hayes	Ida Oldham
	💍 1915/8609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer.	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	15 years.	14 years.
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne
Folio	15/651
Consent
Date of Certificate	16th February 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages. Gisborne

17 February 1915

Donald Stuart Simpson
Mary Jackson.

Donald Stuart Simpson
Mary Jackson
💍 1915/8617

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Servant

23
22

Gisborne
Beach Road 2/2 Kaiti, Gisborne

2 years
years.

The Residence of Mr. 46. E. Bright, Beach Road

15/667

17 February 1915.

Rev Robert Winchester Jackson Presbyterian Minister

No	29
Date of Notice	17 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Stuart Simpson	Mary Jackson.
BDM Match (96%)	Donald Stuart Simpson	Mary Jackson
	💍 1915/8617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Servant
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Beach Road 2/2 Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	years.
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr. 46. E. Bright, Beach Road
Folio	15/667
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1915.
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Winchester Jackson Presbyterian Minister

30.

20 February 1915

Walter Samuel Green
Alice Gibson

Walter Samuel Green
Alice Gibson
💍 1915/12785

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer.
Dressmaker

17
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

17 years.
life

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Gisborne

15/660

Sarah Green (mother but deed of separation)

20 February 1915

Rev Thomas Kane Roman Catholic Minister

No	30.
Date of Notice	20 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Samuel Green	Alice Gibson
	💍 1915/12785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer.	Dressmaker
Age	17	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	17 years.	life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church Gisborne
Folio	15/660
Consent	Sarah Green (mother but deed of separation)
Date of Certificate	20 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Kane Roman Catholic 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).