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 244

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Wesson

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

1161

16 September 1915

George William Cook
Caroline Alice Lindsay

George William Cook
Caroline Alice Lindsay
💍 1915/5212

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

30
27

Auckland
Auckland

11 yrs
1 yr

Methodist Church

15/7538

16 September 1915

Rev. H. A. Sharp, Methodist

No	1161
Date of Notice	16 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Cook	Caroline Alice Lindsay
	💍 1915/5212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 yrs	1 yr
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	15/7538
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Sharp, Methodist

1162

16 September 1915

Kenneth McKenzie Frazer
Jane Matthews

Kenneth McKenzie Fraser
Jane Mathews
💍 1915/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Auckland
Auckland

5 yrs
3 yrs

Dwelling of Mr Matthews, Eden Terrace

15/7135

16 September 1915

Rev. W. Purdie, Presbyterian

No	1162
Date of Notice	16 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth McKenzie Frazer	Jane Matthews
BDM Match (94%)	Kenneth McKenzie Fraser	Jane Mathews
	💍 1915/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 yrs	3 yrs
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr Matthews, Eden Terrace
Folio	15/7135
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Purdie, Presbyterian

1163

16 September 1915

Frederick John Rusch
Gwendoline Mary Hanson

Fredrick John Lynch
Gwendoline Mary Hanson
💍 1915/4651

Bachelor
Spinster

Tally Clerk

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

9 yrs
life

Residence of Mr E. Horton, b Commerce st, Auckland

15/6777

16 September 1915

Rev. L. Folly, Presbyterian

No	1163
Date of Notice	16 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Rusch	Gwendoline Mary Hanson
BDM Match (90%)	Fredrick John Lynch	Gwendoline Mary Hanson
	💍 1915/4651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tally Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 yrs	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr E. Horton, b Commerce st, Auckland
Folio	15/6777
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Folly, Presbyterian

1164

16 September 1915

Ezra Stephen Sorensen
Ethel Anne Ross

Ezra Stephen Sorrensen
Ethel Ann Cross
💍 1915/2921

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

22
24

Auckland
Auckland

9 yrs
14 yrs

St John's Church

15/4930

16 September 1915

Rev. C. E. Porter, Presbyterian

No	1164
Date of Notice	16 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ezra Stephen Sorensen	Ethel Anne Ross
BDM Match (88%)	Ezra Stephen Sorrensen	Ethel Ann Cross
	💍 1915/2921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 yrs	14 yrs
Marriage Place	St John's Church
Folio	15/4930
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. E. Porter, Presbyterian

1165

17 September 1915

Alfred Richard Dickman
Isabella Thomas

Alfred Richard Dickinson
Isabella Thomas
💍 1915/14590

Bachelor
Divorced

Painter

32
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 yrs
3 yrs

Office of Mr. Holland, 39 His Majesty's Arcade, Queen st Auckland

15/4896

17 September 1915

Rev. R. R. Kelso, Presbyterian

No	1165
Date of Notice	17 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Richard Dickman	Isabella Thomas
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Richard Dickinson	Isabella Thomas
	💍 1915/14590
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Painter
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 yrs	3 yrs
Marriage Place	Office of Mr. Holland, 39 His Majesty's Arcade, Queen st Auckland
Folio	15/4896
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Kelso, Presbyterian

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).