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 013

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. G. Culpan

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

8 January 1917

Sydenham William Oxenham
Lisle James

Sydenham William Oxenham
Lisle James
💍 1917/1088

Widower 28 April 1911
Spinster

Retired Ship builder

68
52

Auckland
Auckland

9 days
from overseas

House of Pastor J Scott Inkerman St Onehunga

8 January 1917

Rev G G Harrison Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydenham William Oxenham	Lisle James
	💍 1917/1088
Condition	Widower 28 April 1911	Spinster
Profession	Retired Ship builder
Age	68	52
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 days	from overseas
Marriage Place	House of Pastor J Scott Inkerman St Onehunga
Folio	40
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev G G Harrison Methodist

8 January 1917

Robert Luke Lake
Kate Arnott

Robert Luke
Kate Dilnott
💍 1917/2298

Widower 1903
Widow 17 September 1913

Labourer

47
48

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
18 years

St Patricks Cathedral Auckland

1485

8 January 1917

Rev Dr J Murphy Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Luke Lake	Kate Arnott
BDM Match (72%)	Robert Luke	Kate Dilnott
	💍 1917/2298
Condition	Widower 1903	Widow 17 September 1913
Profession	Labourer
Age	47	48
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St Patricks Cathedral Auckland
Folio	1485
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Dr J Murphy Roman Catholic

8 January 1917

Charles Garrel Canavan
Ethel Hilda Schwamm

Charles Farrel Canavan
Ethel Hilda Schwamm
💍 1917/1089

Bachelor
Spinster

Mariner

24
23

Auckland
Auckland

8 days
2 days

St Matthews Church Auckland

8 January 1917

Rev J C A Calder Anglican

No	23
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Garrel Canavan	Ethel Hilda Schwamm
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Farrel Canavan	Ethel Hilda Schwamm
	💍 1917/1089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mariner
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	41
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J C A Calder Anglican

8 January 1917

Frank Horace Bond
Ivy Jane Calderwood

Frank Horace Bond
Ivy Jane Calderwood
💍 1917/1090

Bachelor
Spinster

Packer

25
15

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
1 year

Registrar's office Auckland

Isabella Rixon aunt and guardian

8 January 1917

Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Horace Bond	Ivy Jane Calderwood
	💍 1917/1090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Packer
Age	25	15
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Auckland
Folio	42
Consent	Isabella Rixon aunt and guardian
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

8 January 1917

Arthur North Holtham Home
Agnes Catherine Reilly

Arthur Troath Holtham Thorne
Agnes Catherine Reilly
💍 1917/1091

Bachelor
Spinster

Umbrella Manufacturer

50
36

Auckland
Auckland

45 years
15 years

Roman Catholic Church Otahuhu

8 January 1917

Rev F Buckley Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur North Holtham Home	Agnes Catherine Reilly
BDM Match (88%)	Arthur Troath Holtham Thorne	Agnes Catherine Reilly
	💍 1917/1091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Umbrella Manufacturer
Age	50	36
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	45 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Otahuhu
Folio	43
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev F Buckley 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).