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 227

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar G. W. P. Moore

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

1066

15 December 1917

Albert Lewis Sheppard
Clarice Sara Brown

Albert Lewin Sheppard
Clarice Sara Morrin
💍 1917/475

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

45
45

Auckland
Auckland

5 days
12 years

Holy Trinity Church, Otahuhu

5631

15 December 1917

Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

No	1066
Date of Notice	15 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Lewis Sheppard	Clarice Sara Brown
BDM Match (87%)	Albert Lewin Sheppard	Clarice Sara Morrin
	💍 1917/475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	45	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Otahuhu
Folio	5631
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

1067

15 December 1917

Joseph Henry Hedlund
Edith Mary Chapman

George Henry Hedlund
Edith May Chapman
💍 1917/476

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist

24
22

Auckland
Auckland

9 months
Life

St John's Church, Ponsonby

5632

15 December 1917

Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	1067
Date of Notice	15 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Hedlund	Edith Mary Chapman
BDM Match (82%)	George Henry Hedlund	Edith May Chapman
	💍 1917/476
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 months	Life
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	5632
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

1068

15 December 1917

Donald Stewart Pattanach
Rosa May Ellewis Hill

Donald Stewart Cattanach
Rosa Mary Ellewis Hill
💍 1917/477

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

26
29

Auckland
Auckland

Life
26 years

St. Matthew's Church, Auckland

5633

15 December 1917

Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

No	1068
Date of Notice	15 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Stewart Pattanach	Rosa May Ellewis Hill
BDM Match (96%)	Donald Stewart Cattanach	Rosa Mary Ellewis Hill
	💍 1917/477
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	5633
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Gillam, Anglican

1069

15 December 1917

William Henry Heatley
Ivy Gladys Butler

William Henry Keatley
Ivy Gladys Butler
💍 1917/454

Bachelor
Spinster

Armature Winder

24
24

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
15 years

St. Paul's Church, Kingsland

5634

15 December 1917

Rev. A. A. Rickard, Anglican

No	1069
Date of Notice	15 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Heatley	Ivy Gladys Butler
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Keatley	Ivy Gladys Butler
	💍 1917/454
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Armature Winder
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Kingsland
Folio	5634
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Rickard, Anglican

1070

15 December 1917

William Matthews
Janet Forbes

William Matthews
Janet Forbes
💍 1917/455

Widower 12 Jan 1915
Widow 22 Nov 1914

Insurance Agent

65
49

Auckland
Auckland

15 months
49 years

St. Paul's Church, Kingsland

5635

15 December 1917

Rev. A. A. Rickard, Anglican

No	1070
Date of Notice	15 December 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Matthews	Janet Forbes
	💍 1917/455
Condition	Widower 12 Jan 1915	Widow 22 Nov 1914
Profession	Insurance Agent
Age	65	49
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 months	49 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Kingsland
Folio	5635
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Rickard, 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).