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 352

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

4 February 1916

Kenneth Richard Kemp
Margaret Mary Howard

Kenneth Richard Kemp
Margaret Mary Howard
💍 1916/1091

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Whatatutu, Gisborne
Whatatutu, Gisborne

6 years
1 year

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4 February 1916

Rev. Thomas Haughey, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	4 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Richard Kemp	Margaret Mary Howard
	💍 1916/1091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Whatatutu, Gisborne	Whatatutu, Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	78
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Haughey, Roman Catholic

8 February 1916

Alfred William Skinner
Edith Emily Horton

Alfred William Stenner
Edith Emily Horton
💍 1916/312

Bachelor
Widow

Barman
Home Duties

35
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 years
3 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8 February 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	27
Date of Notice	8 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Skinner	Edith Emily Horton
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred William Stenner	Edith Emily Horton
	💍 1916/312
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Barman	Home Duties
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	50
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Joseph Manuel Rina
Rawinia Gerrard

Joseph Manuel Lima
Rawinia Gerrard
💍 1916/310

Bachelor
Widow

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

39
39

Gisborne
Gisborne

14 days
14 days

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	28
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Manuel Rina	Rawinia Gerrard
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Manuel Lima	Rawinia Gerrard
	💍 1916/310
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	43
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Patrick Hugh Keaney
Mary Christina Porter

Patrick Hugh Keaney
Mary Christina Porter
💍 1916/311

Bachelor
Widow

Fencer
Boarding House Keeper

39
38

Kaiteratahi
Kaiteratahi

15 years
3 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	29
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Hugh Keaney	Mary Christina Porter
	💍 1916/311
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Fencer	Boarding House Keeper
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Kaiteratahi	Kaiteratahi
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	49
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Russell Charles Pelham
Mary Ritchie Sim

Russell Charles Bilham
Mary Ritchie Sim
💍 1916/1092

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Housemaid

25
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

5 years
2 years

Private residence of Mr. B. Wood, 673 Gladstone Road, Gisborne

7 February 1916

Rev. J. M. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	7 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Russell Charles Pelham	Mary Ritchie Sim
BDM Match (95%)	Russell Charles Bilham	Mary Ritchie Sim
	💍 1916/1092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Housemaid
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. B. Wood, 673 Gladstone Road, Gisborne
Folio	79
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Thompson, 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).