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 348

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar H. S. Bell

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

12 January 1916

Robert Thomas Feizell
Violet May Beatrice Cowell (Bowen)

Robert Thomas Fitzell
Violet May Beatrice Cowen
💍 1916/304

Bachelor
Spinster

Fencer
Home Duties

24
28

Tolaga Bay, East Coast
Tolaga Bay, East Coast, Gisborne

24 years 4 days
9 months 4 days

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

12 January 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	6
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Thomas Feizell	Violet May Beatrice Cowell (Bowen)
BDM Match (82%)	Robert Thomas Fitzell	Violet May Beatrice Cowen
	💍 1916/304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fencer	Home Duties
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Tolaga Bay, East Coast	Tolaga Bay, East Coast, Gisborne
Length of Residence	24 years 4 days	9 months 4 days
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	43
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13 January 1916

James Irvine Pettie Vines
Eileen Poole

James Irvine Pettie Dines
Eileen Poole
💍 1916/3149

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Typist

21
22

Waipiro Bay, East Coast
Ponsonby, Auckland

3 days
3 days

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

13 January 1916

Rev Thomas [illegible], Roman Catholic Priest, Gisborne

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Irvine Pettie Vines	Eileen Poole
BDM Match (98%)	James Irvine Pettie Dines	Eileen Poole
	💍 1916/3149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Typist
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Waipiro Bay, East Coast	Ponsonby, Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	92
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas [illegible], Roman Catholic Priest, Gisborne

10 January 1916

Walter Brodie
Irene Barkell

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

29
17

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 months
2 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

Note This man made a false declaration - he stated that there was no one in the colony authorized to consent to the bride marrying - whereas the parents of the bride lived in Gisborne. The marriage [illegible] on information the [illegible]

24 January 1916

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	8
Date of Notice	10 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Brodie	Irene Barkell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio
Consent	Note This man made a false declaration - he stated that there was no one in the colony authorized to consent to the bride marrying - whereas the parents of the bride lived in Gisborne. The marriage [illegible] on information the [illegible]
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

24 January 1916

George Robinson Macintosh
Dorothy Lydia May Tolhurst

George Robinson MacKintosh
Dorothy Gachia May Ellmers
💍 1916/3150

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
23

Tahunga, Gisborne
Kaiti, Gisborne

6 months
3 months

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

24 January 1916

Rev Arch [illegible], Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Robinson Macintosh	Dorothy Lydia May Tolhurst
BDM Match (81%)	George Robinson MacKintosh	Dorothy Gachia May Ellmers
	💍 1916/3150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Tahunga, Gisborne	Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	93
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Arch [illegible], Church of England

13 January 1916

John Roderick
Robina Shute

John Roderick
Robina Shute
💍 1916/3151

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Dentist's Mechanical Assistant

31
29

Gisborne
Gisborne

20 years
7 years

The Wesleyan Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

13 January 1916

Rev Robert [illegible], Wesleyan Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	13 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Roderick	Robina Shute
	💍 1916/3151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Dentist's Mechanical Assistant
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	7 years
Marriage Place	The Wesleyan Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	94
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert [illegible], Wesleyan 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).