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 357

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

15 March 1916

Joseph Hislop
Hannah Blanche Oman

Joseph Hislop
Hannah Blanche Oman
💍 1916/9092

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Costumier

27
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 years
26 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

15 March 1916

Rev Herbert W. Packe, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	15 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Hislop	Hannah Blanche Oman
	💍 1916/9092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Costumier
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	63
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Herbert W. Packe, Church of England

15 March 1916

William Elijah Richardson
Agnes Riley

William Elijah Richardson
Agnes Kiley
💍 1916/1120

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Cook

36
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

30 years
5 months

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

15 March 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	52
Date of Notice	15 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Elijah Richardson	Agnes Riley
BDM Match (95%)	William Elijah Richardson	Agnes Kiley
	💍 1916/1120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Cook
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	30 years	5 months
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	56
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

21 March 1916

Sydney Pembroke Sheppard
Mabel Brooking

Sydney Pembroke Sheppard
Mabel Brooking
💍 1916/1101

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Home Duties

25
22

Makauri, Poverty Bay
Makauri, Poverty Bay

18 years
14 years

St Luke's Church, Waerenga-a-hika, Poverty Bay

21 March 1916

Rev Edgar Ward, Church of England

No	53
Date of Notice	21 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Pembroke Sheppard	Mabel Brooking
	💍 1916/1101
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Home Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Makauri, Poverty Bay	Makauri, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	18 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church, Waerenga-a-hika, Poverty Bay
Folio	61
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Edgar Ward, Church of England

21 March 1916

Reginald Francis Green
Clara Pearl Ethel Innes

Reginald Francis Green
Clara Pearl Ethel Innes
💍 1916/1100

Bachelor
Widow

Commercial Agent
Saleswoman

29
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 1/2 years
4 years

Church of England, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

21 March 1916

Rev Geo W. W. Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

No	54
Date of Notice	21 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Francis Green	Clara Pearl Ethel Innes
	💍 1916/1100
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Commercial Agent	Saleswoman
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Folio	62
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Geo W. W. Watson, Church of England, Te Karaka

21 March 1916

Edward Corbett
Evelyn Reeve

Edward Corbett
Evelyn Reeve
💍 1916/300

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier N.Z. Expeditionary Force (returned)
Domestic Duties

23
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

16 years
13 months

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

Arthur Reeve (Father)

21 March 1916

Rev Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

No	55
Date of Notice	21 March 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Corbett	Evelyn Reeve
	💍 1916/300
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier N.Z. Expeditionary Force (returned)	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	16 years	13 months
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	59
Consent	Arthur Reeve (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 March 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

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).