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 037

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar H. G. Price

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

141

20 February 1917

Ernest Alexander Shanks
Laura Robinson McPhail

Ernest Alexander Shanks
Laura Robinson McPhail
💍 1917/949

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher

21
22

Auckland
Auckland

1 week
life

Presbyterian Church Birkenhead

228

20 February 1917

Rev. P. J. Roby Presbyterian

No	141
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Alexander Shanks	Laura Robinson McPhail
	💍 1917/949
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Birkenhead
Folio	228
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Roby Presbyterian

142

20 February 1917

Rory Leonard Wilson
Agnes Edith Penny

George Leonard Wilson
Agnes Edith Gerraty
💍 1917/950

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer

25
19

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
6 months

Office of Rev. F. A. Jeffreys 24 Arcade Queen St. Auckland

229

Albert Penny Father

20 February 1917

Rev. F. A. Jeffreys Presbyterian

No	142
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rory Leonard Wilson	Agnes Edith Penny
BDM Match (77%)	George Leonard Wilson	Agnes Edith Gerraty
	💍 1917/950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of Rev. F. A. Jeffreys 24 Arcade Queen St. Auckland
Folio	229
Consent	Albert Penny Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Jeffreys Presbyterian

143

20 February 1917

John Dutch
Miriam White

John Petch
Miriam White
💍 1917/951

Widower 30 Aug 1905
Spinster

Farmer

46
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
2 months

House of Mrs M. A. White Queen St. Northcote

230

20 February 1917

Rev. J. P. Laughton Presbyterian

No	143
Date of Notice	20 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dutch	Miriam White
BDM Match (90%)	John Petch	Miriam White
	💍 1917/951
Condition	Widower 30 Aug 1905	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	46	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs M. A. White Queen St. Northcote
Folio	230
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Laughton Presbyterian

144

21 February 1917

Archibald Cochrane
Martha Mary Biel

Archibald Cochrane
Martha Mary Biel
💍 1917/952

Bachelor
Widow 8 July 1916

Quarryman

31
34

Auckland
Auckland

5 weeks
3 days

Registrar's Office Auckland

231

21 February 1917

Registrar

No	144
Date of Notice	21 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Cochrane	Martha Mary Biel
	💍 1917/952
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 8 July 1916
Profession	Quarryman
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 weeks	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	231
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

145

22 February 1917

Julian Stanley Scalé
Jean Helen Faulkner

Julian Stanley Scale
Jean Helen Faulkner
💍 1917/953

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

46
37

Auckland
Auckland

2 months
2 months

St Aidan's Church Remuera

232

22 February 1917

Rev. A. Fowler Anglican

No	145
Date of Notice	22 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Julian Stanley Scalé	Jean Helen Faulkner
BDM Match (95%)	Julian Stanley Scale	Jean Helen Faulkner
	💍 1917/953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	46	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St Aidan's Church Remuera
Folio	232
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Fowler 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).