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 073

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. M. Geary

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

311

4 April 1917

Jesse Leonard Cotton
Amelia Sophia Syms

Jesse Leonard Cotton
Amelia Sophia Syms
💍 1917/2605

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

38
41

Auckland
Auckland

10 months
2 years

House of the Bride, Arawhata, Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland

1778

4 April 1917

Rev. J. Speiring, Roman Catholic

No	311
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jesse Leonard Cotton	Amelia Sophia Syms
	💍 1917/2605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	38	41
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	House of the Bride, Arawhata, Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland
Folio	1778
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Speiring, Roman Catholic

312

4 April 1917

James Ross Hawlett
Eileen Bella Nicholson

James Ross Howlett
Eileen Bella Nicholson
💍 1917/2606

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

31
24

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
15 years

St. John's Church, Parnell, Auckland

1779

4 April 1917

Rev. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

No	312
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ross Hawlett	Eileen Bella Nicholson
BDM Match (97%)	James Ross Howlett	Eileen Bella Nicholson
	💍 1917/2606
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Parnell, Auckland
Folio	1779
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

313

4 April 1917

Edward George Simmons
Gertrude Emmie Carling

Edward George Simmons
Gertrude Eunice Carling
💍 1917/2607

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

42
39

Auckland
Auckland

6 weeks
10 days

St. Mark's Church, Remuera, Auckland

1780

4 April 1917

Rev. W. Beatty, Anglican

No	313
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward George Simmons	Gertrude Emmie Carling
BDM Match (94%)	Edward George Simmons	Gertrude Eunice Carling
	💍 1917/2607
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	42	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 weeks	10 days
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera, Auckland
Folio	1780
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Anglican

314

4 April 1917

Norman Alexander Sutherland
Hilda Gertrude Absolum

Norman Alexander Sutherland
Hilda Gertrude Absolum
💍 1917/2608

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

28
23

Auckland
Auckland

28 years
23 years

St. Mark's Church, Remuera, Auckland

1781

4 April 1917

Rev. W. Beatty, Anglican

No	314
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Alexander Sutherland	Hilda Gertrude Absolum
	💍 1917/2608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	28 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Remuera, Auckland
Folio	1781
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Beatty, Anglican

315

4 April 1917

Henry James Simmons
Serafina Hokkanen

Henry James Simmons
Serapina Hokkanen
💍 1917/2609

Divorced 25 July 1916
Widow 20 August 1904

Seaman

42
37

Auckland
Auckland

3 1/2 years
4 1/2 years

House of Mrs. Willis, Evelyn St., Eden Terrace, Auckland

1782

4 April 1917

Rev. E. T. Cox, Methodist

No	315
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Simmons	Serafina Hokkanen
BDM Match (97%)	Henry James Simmons	Serapina Hokkanen
	💍 1917/2609
Condition	Divorced 25 July 1916	Widow 20 August 1904
Profession	Seaman
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. Willis, Evelyn St., Eden Terrace, Auckland
Folio	1782
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. T. Cox, Methodist

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).