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 353

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar H. G. 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

7 February 1916

William John Turbertt
Isabella Nelson Morrison

William John Turbitt
Isabella Nelson Morrison
💍 1916/299

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Housekeeper

39
41

Mangapapa, Poverty Bay
Kaiti, Poverty Bay

14 days
12 years

Methodist Church Gisborne, Bright Street

7 February 1916

Rev. Robert Raine, Methodist Minister

No	31
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Turbertt	Isabella Nelson Morrison
BDM Match (95%)	William John Turbitt	Isabella Nelson Morrison
	💍 1916/299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Housekeeper
Age	39	41
Dwelling Place	Mangapapa, Poverty Bay	Kaiti, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	14 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Gisborne, Bright Street
Folio	38
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Raine, Methodist Minister

8 February 1916

Robert Stein
Margaret Ellen Watts

Robert Stein
Margaret Ellen Watts
💍 1916/1108

Bachelor
Spinster

Laundry Manager
Waitress

24
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
1 1/2 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

8 February 1916

Rev. Jas. McThomson, Presbyterian Minister

No	32
Date of Notice	8 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Stein	Margaret Ellen Watts
	💍 1916/1108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laundry Manager	Waitress
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	69
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. McThomson, Presbyterian Minister

9 February 1916

Henry Candy
Ellen McConville

Henry Candy
Ellen McConville
💍 1916/9083

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
24

Waerenga-a-hika
Gisborne

Life
Life

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

9 February 1916

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	9 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Candy	Ellen McConville
	💍 1916/9083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Waerenga-a-hika	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	68
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

9 February 1916

Peter Gilbert Mullooly
Myrtle Clarke

Peter Gilbert Mullooly
Myrtle Clarke
💍 1916/1110

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer
Nurse Probationer

28
23

Te Araroa (East Coast)
Gisborne (Te Araroa)

4 days
4 days

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

9 February 1916

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

No	34
Date of Notice	9 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Gilbert Mullooly	Myrtle Clarke
	💍 1916/1110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer	Nurse Probationer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Te Araroa (East Coast)	Gisborne (Te Araroa)
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	70
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

10 February 1916

Augustus Richard Romual Jeffcoat
Hephzibah Cole

Augustus Richard Barnical Jeffcoate
Hephzibah Cole
💍 1916/1109

Widower
Widow

General Dealer
Domestic Duties

49
41

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 years
38 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

10 February 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	35
Date of Notice	10 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Richard Romual Jeffcoat	Hephzibah Cole
BDM Match (90%)	Augustus Richard Barnical Jeffcoate	Hephzibah Cole
	💍 1916/1109
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	General Dealer	Domestic Duties
Age	49	41
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	38 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	51
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).