Intentions to Marry, 1917 Albertland to Hamilton

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840469, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917a contains pages 1-356, covering districts from Albertland to Hamilton

Page 019

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar A. W. Evans

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

18 January 1917

William Charles Whyte Watt
Dora Frances Isabel Paine

William Charles Hugh Watt
Dora Frances Isabel Paine
💍 1917/993

Bachelor
Spinster

Ship's Officer

28
27

Auckland
Auckland

from overseas
9 years

St Barnabas' Church Mt. Eden

18 January 1917

Rev E J McFarland Anglican

No	51
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Whyte Watt	Dora Frances Isabel Paine
BDM Match (90%)	William Charles Hugh Watt	Dora Frances Isabel Paine
	💍 1917/993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ship's Officer
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	from overseas	9 years
Marriage Place	St Barnabas' Church Mt. Eden
Folio	69
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev E J McFarland Anglican

18 January 1917

William Henry Clarke
Ida Mary Elizabeth Baks

William Henry Clarke
Ida Mary Elizabeth Bates
💍 1917/995

Bachelor
Divorced 12 March 1916

Electrician

33
33

Auckland
Auckland

12 months
3 months

Registrar's Office Auckland

18 January 1917

Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Clarke	Ida Mary Elizabeth Baks
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Clarke	Ida Mary Elizabeth Bates
	💍 1917/995
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 12 March 1916
Profession	Electrician
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	70
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

18 January 1917

Harry Lawrence McQuoid
Ella May Lafitte

Harry Lawrence McQuoid
Ella May Lafitte
💍 1917/996

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

21
20

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
17 years

House of Nurse Bidwell 148 Hobson St Auckland

August Lafitte Father

18 January 1917

Rev H K Kempton Baptist

No	53
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Lawrence McQuoid	Ella May Lafitte
	💍 1917/996
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	17 years
Marriage Place	House of Nurse Bidwell 148 Hobson St Auckland
Folio	71
Consent	August Lafitte Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H K Kempton Baptist

18 January 1917

George Peter Olesen
Beatrice Helena Eaves

George Peter Olesen
Beatrice Helena Eaves
💍 1917/997

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper

25
23

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
9 years

St Aidan's Church Remuera

18 January 1917

Rev. A. Fowler anglican

No	54
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Peter Olesen	Beatrice Helena Eaves
	💍 1917/997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	9 years
Marriage Place	St Aidan's Church Remuera
Folio	72
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fowler anglican

18 January 1917

Francis Raymond Hunt
Elsie Mary McCarthy

Frances Raymond Jury
Elsie May McCarthy
💍 1917/998

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
23

Auckland
Auckland

5 months
10 months

House of Mr McCarthy Takapuna Auckland

18 January 1917

Rev M. J. Furlong Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	18 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Raymond Hunt	Elsie Mary McCarthy
BDM Match (87%)	Frances Raymond Jury	Elsie May McCarthy
	💍 1917/998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 months	10 months
Marriage Place	House of Mr McCarthy Takapuna Auckland
Folio	73
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev M. J. Furlong Roman Catholic

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).