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 070

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar [illegible]

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

306

19 March 1915

Thomas Goswell Wilson
Gwendoline Challen-Clark

Thomas Cogswell Wilson
Gwendoline Challer-Clark
💍 1915/9955

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

39
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 yrs.
10 yrs.

St Matthews Church

2260

19 March 1915

Rev I. Calder, Anglican

No	306
Date of Notice	19 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Goswell Wilson	Gwendoline Challen-Clark
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Cogswell Wilson	Gwendoline Challer-Clark
	💍 1915/9955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 yrs.	10 yrs.
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church
Folio	2260
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev I. Calder, Anglican

307

19 March 1915

Thomas Richard Aulben Penner
Olive Isabel Dorsdick

Thomas Richard Aulben Kenner
Olive Isabel Forsdick
💍 1915/12556

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist

29
24

Auckland
Auckland

18 mths
5 yrs

St Barnabas Church, Mt Eden

382

19 March 1915

Rev. E. J. McFarlane, Anglican

No	307
Date of Notice	19 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Aulben Penner	Olive Isabel Dorsdick
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Richard Aulben Kenner	Olive Isabel Forsdick
	💍 1915/12556
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 mths	5 yrs
Marriage Place	St Barnabas Church, Mt Eden
Folio	382
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarlane, Anglican

308

19 March 1915

Henry Francis Kcheop
Gladys Jane Snooking

Henry Francis McLeod
Gladys Jane Brooking
💍 1915/8392

Bachelor
Spinster

Miller

35
29

Auckland
Auckland

4 yrs
1 1/2 yrs

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

467

19 March 1915

Rev D. D. Young, Anglican

No	308
Date of Notice	19 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Francis Kcheop	Gladys Jane Snooking
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Francis McLeod	Gladys Jane Brooking
	💍 1915/8392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miller
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 yrs	1 1/2 yrs
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	467
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev D. D. Young, Anglican

309

20 March 1915

Robert Irvine
Lily Hewitt

Robert Irvine
Lily Hewitt
💍 1915/8399

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
16

Auckland
Auckland

12 yrs
9 yrs

Residence of brides parents, New Hudson Rd Avondale

473

John Irvine, Father William Edward Hewitt, Father

20 March 1915

Rev S. Enbican, Presbyterian

No	309
Date of Notice	20 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Irvine	Lily Hewitt
	💍 1915/8399
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 yrs	9 yrs
Marriage Place	Residence of brides parents, New Hudson Rd Avondale
Folio	473
Consent	John Irvine, Father William Edward Hewitt, Father
Date of Certificate	20 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev S. Enbican, Presbyterian

310

20 March 1915

John Heffett Forsythe
Agnes Storm

John Leggett Forsyth
Agnes Horn
💍 1915/8300

Bachelor
Spinster

Producer

30
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 dys
3 dys

Methodist Church, Pitt St, Auckland

424

20 March 1915

Rev O. Harrison, Methodist

No	310
Date of Notice	20 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Heffett Forsythe	Agnes Storm
BDM Match (77%)	John Leggett Forsyth	Agnes Horn
	💍 1915/8300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Producer
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 dys	3 dys
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pitt St, Auckland
Folio	424
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev O. Harrison, Methodist

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).