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 376

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar H. E. 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

143

13 October 1916

Douglas Gray
Amy Alice Solvander

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic Duties

36
30

Wellington, New Zealand
Gisborne

about 10 years
20 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

8179

13 October 1916

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

No	143
Date of Notice	13 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Gray	Amy Alice Solvander
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic Duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Wellington, New Zealand	Gisborne
Length of Residence	about 10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	8179
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

144

13 October 1916

Edwin Arthur Reeve
Annie McDonald Porter

Edwin Arthur Reeve
Annie McDonald Porter
💍 1916/2344

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

19
17

Kaiti, Gisborne
Kaiti

3 years
5 years

The office of the Registrar of marriages, Gisborne

7286

Edwin Reeve (Father), Mary Reeve (Mother)

13 October 1916

Registrar of Marriages

No	144
Date of Notice	13 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Arthur Reeve	Annie McDonald Porter
	💍 1916/2344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Kaiti
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of marriages, Gisborne
Folio	7286
Consent	Edwin Reeve (Father), Mary Reeve (Mother)
Date of Certificate	13 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

145

14 October 1916

Paul Desmond Hampshire Hodder
Doris Viola Le Quesne

Paul Desmond Lanphier Hudden
Doris Viola Le Quesue
💍 1916/2313

Bachelor
Spinster

Private 16th Co. 22nd Reinforcements
Home Duties

25
22

Te Karaka
Gisborne

5 years
9 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

7278

14 October 1916

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

No	145
Date of Notice	14 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Paul Desmond Hampshire Hodder	Doris Viola Le Quesne
BDM Match (86%)	Paul Desmond Lanphier Hudden	Doris Viola Le Quesue
	💍 1916/2313
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Private 16th Co. 22nd Reinforcements	Home Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	7278
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England

146

18 October 1916

Nelson Boag
Sylvia Muriel Robinson

Nelson Boag
Sylvia Muriel Robinson
💍 1916/2345

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

27
23

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 year
2 years

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

7287

18 October 1916

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

No	146
Date of Notice	18 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Boag	Sylvia Muriel Robinson
	💍 1916/2345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	7287
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian Minister

147

21 October 1916

William Montgomery Prentice
Grace Maxwell Stein

William Montgummery Prentice
Grace Maxwell Stein
💍 1916/2346

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Laundry Maid

27
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
4 1/2 years

Private residence of the Bride's parents, 262 Aberdeen Road, Gisborne

7288

Adam Stein (Father)

21 October 1916

Adjutant R. F. Sansom, Salvation Army

No	147
Date of Notice	21 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Montgomery Prentice	Grace Maxwell Stein
BDM Match (96%)	William Montgummery Prentice	Grace Maxwell Stein
	💍 1916/2346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Laundry Maid
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of the Bride's parents, 262 Aberdeen Road, Gisborne
Folio	7288
Consent	Adam Stein (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Adjutant R. F. Sansom, Salvation Army

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).