Intentions to Marry, 1916 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840463, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916a contains pages 1-418, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 035

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar C. W. Pulford

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

131

28 January 1916

Alexander Scott
Alice Hannah Lowrie

Alexander Scott
Alice Hannah Lowrie
💍 1916/4483

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

26
24

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
6 years

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Queen St Auckland

1739

28 January 1916

Elder J. R. Morrison, Latter Day Saints

No	131
Date of Notice	28 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Scott	Alice Hannah Lowrie
	💍 1916/4483
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Queen St Auckland
Folio	1739
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Elder J. R. Morrison, Latter Day Saints

132

31 January 1916

Alexander Blackwood Waldie
Mercy Page

Alexander Blackwood Waldie
Mercy Cage
💍 1916/386

Widower
Widow

Farmer

53
43

Auckland
Auckland

6 days
6 days

Registrar's office Auckland

903

31 January 1916

Registrar

No	132
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Blackwood Waldie	Mercy Page
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Blackwood Waldie	Mercy Cage
	💍 1916/386
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	53	43
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Auckland
Folio	903
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

133

31 January 1916

Arthur Lawrence
Lilian Mary Sond

Arthur Laurence
Lilian Mary Bond
💍 1916/4484

Bachelor
Spinster

Milk Retailer

30
26

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
22 months

St James' Manse Auckland

1740

31 January 1916

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lawrence	Lilian Mary Sond
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Laurence	Lilian Mary Bond
	💍 1916/4484
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Milk Retailer
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	22 months
Marriage Place	St James' Manse Auckland
Folio	1740
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

134

31 January 1916

Roy Thomas Benefield
Iduna Florence Shackelford

George Thomas Benefield
Idina Florence Shackelford
💍 1916/4485

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk

27
26

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
10 years

Residence of Father of Bride Gordon Avenue Dominion Rd Auckland

1741

31 January 1916

Rev. C. H. Laws, Methodist

No	134
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Thomas Benefield	Iduna Florence Shackelford
BDM Match (87%)	George Thomas Benefield	Idina Florence Shackelford
	💍 1916/4485
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Father of Bride Gordon Avenue Dominion Rd Auckland
Folio	1741
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Laws, Methodist

135

31 January 1916

Harry Long
Sarah Jane Patton

Harry Long
Sarah Jane Patton
💍 1916/4486

Widower
Spinster

Baptist Minister

67
43

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
3 weeks

St David's Manse Edendale

1742

31 January 1916

Rev. J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

No	135
Date of Notice	31 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Long	Sarah Jane Patton
	💍 1916/4486
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Baptist Minister
Age	67	43
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St David's Manse Edendale
Folio	1742
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Saunders, 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).