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 030

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar J. W. Espie

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

106

24 January 1916

Richard Edward Widdows
Mary Agnes Grady

Richard Edward Widdows
Mary Agnes Brody
💍 1916/4438

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant

30
28

Auckland
Auckland

30 years
15 years

St Benedict's Church

1718

24 January 1916

Father P. Hill, Roman Catholic

No	106
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Widdows	Mary Agnes Grady
BDM Match (94%)	Richard Edward Widdows	Mary Agnes Brody
	💍 1916/4438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	30 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Church
Folio	1718
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Father P. Hill, Roman Catholic

107

24 January 1916

Albert Hercules Maxwell
Annie Cook

Albert Hercules Maxwell
Annie Cook
💍 1916/4439

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Shunter

30
22

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
10 months

House of Bride's mother, Pitt St, Auckland

1719

24 January 1916

Rev. J. E. Parsons, Methodist

No	107
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Hercules Maxwell	Annie Cook
	💍 1916/4439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Shunter
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	House of Bride's mother, Pitt St, Auckland
Folio	1719
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Parsons, Methodist

108

24 January 1916

Herbert Ashworth Place
Laura Clara Pont

Herbert Ashworth Place
Laura Clara South
💍 1916/3809

Bachelor
Widow

Agent

50
53

Auckland
Auckland

1 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

926

24 January 1916

Registrar

No	108
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ashworth Place	Laura Clara Pont
BDM Match (91%)	Herbert Ashworth Place	Laura Clara South
	💍 1916/3809
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Agent
Age	50	53
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	926
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar

109

24 January 1916

William John Edmund Scott
Dorothea Annie Estelle Tomlinson

William John Edmond Scott
Dorothea Annie Estelle Tomlinson
💍 1916/4441

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

27
21

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
20 years

Eden Hall, Valley Rd, Mt Eden

1720

24 January 1916

Mr. H. L. Thatcher, Brethren

No	109
Date of Notice	24 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Edmund Scott	Dorothea Annie Estelle Tomlinson
BDM Match (98%)	William John Edmond Scott	Dorothea Annie Estelle Tomlinson
	💍 1916/4441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Eden Hall, Valley Rd, Mt Eden
Folio	1720
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. L. Thatcher, Brethren

110

25 January 1916

Wilfred Philip Hamon
Hilda Agnes Scherer

Wilfred Philip Hannken
Hilda Agnes Scherer
💍 1916/12032

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

27
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
5 weeks

St Mark's Church, Remuera

1721

25 January 1916

Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

No	110
Date of Notice	25 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Philip Hamon	Hilda Agnes Scherer
BDM Match (91%)	Wilfred Philip Hannken	Hilda Agnes Scherer
	💍 1916/12032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St Mark's Church, Remuera
Folio	1721
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

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).