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 200

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Auepm

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

941

27 July 1915

Charles Jacob Heph
Rosina Mensam

Charles Jacob Hegh
Rosina Menary
💍 1915/2724

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

22
18

Auckland
Auckland

2 yrs.
2 yrs.

Methodist Church-Pitt St-

15/4808

William John Mensam, Father

29 July 1915

Re. CA Laws Methodist

No	941
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Jacob Heph	Rosina Mensam
BDM Match (86%)	Charles Jacob Hegh	Rosina Menary
	💍 1915/2724
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 yrs.	2 yrs.
Marriage Place	Methodist Church-Pitt St-
Folio	15/4808
Consent	William John Mensam, Father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Re. CA Laws Methodist

942

27 July 1915

John Thomas Richards
Muriel Lily Watson

John Thomas Richards
Muriel Lily Watson
💍 1915/2826

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

30
27

Auckland
Auckland

7 yrs.
life

Congregational Church Hereford St.

15/4951

27 July 1915

Re E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

No	942
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Richards	Muriel Lily Watson
	💍 1915/2826
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 yrs.	life
Marriage Place	Congregational Church Hereford St.
Folio	15/4951
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Re E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

943

27 July 1915

Richard Howard Mitchell
Jessie Olive Aitkin

Richard Howard Mitchell
Jessie Olive Aickin
💍 1915/4866

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
29

Auckland
Remuera

4 yrs.
life

Residence of Bride's Parents, Vincent Rd

15/7133

27 July 1915

Re. S. S. Moore, Presbyterian

No	943
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Howard Mitchell	Jessie Olive Aitkin
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Howard Mitchell	Jessie Olive Aickin
	💍 1915/4866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Remuera
Length of Residence	4 yrs.	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, Vincent Rd
Folio	15/7133
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Re. S. S. Moore, Presbyterian

944

27 July 1915

Alexander John Macleod
Helen Ritchie Noble

Alexander John Macleod
Helen Ritchie Noble
💍 1915/14428

Widower
Divorced

Chief Cook

46
54

Auckland
Auckland

2 yrs.
10 mths.

Registrar's Office

15/4462

27 July 1915

Registrar

No	944
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Macleod	Helen Ritchie Noble
	💍 1915/14428
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Chief Cook
Age	46	54
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 yrs.	10 mths.
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	15/4462
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar

945

27 July 1915

William Thomas Nowis
Annie Hope Nelson

William Thomas Worms
Burnie Hope Nelson
💍 1915/2673

Widower
Spinster

Coal + Firewood Merchant

38
18

Auckland
Auckland

33 yrs.
3 mths.

Buthlow's Church

15/4705

Elizabeth Nelson, Mother

27 July 1915

Re/G. A. Calder, Anglican

No	945
Date of Notice	27 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Nowis	Annie Hope Nelson
BDM Match (84%)	William Thomas Worms	Burnie Hope Nelson
	💍 1915/2673
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Coal + Firewood Merchant
Age	38	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	33 yrs.	3 mths.
Marriage Place	Buthlow's Church
Folio	15/4705
Consent	Elizabeth Nelson, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Re/G. A. Calder, Anglican

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).