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 251

District of Awhitu Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar S. C. Mahon

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

25 January 1917

Harry Stephen Limmer
Stella Annie Sedgwick

Harry Stephen Limmer
Stella Annie Sedgwick
💍 1917/1537

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

36
27

Waiuku
Waiuku

3 years
27 years

In the residence of Mr J. Gribble Waiuku

693

25 January 1917

J. C. Fussell Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	25 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Stephen Limmer	Stella Annie Sedgwick
	💍 1917/1537
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Waiuku	Waiuku
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr J. Gribble Waiuku
Folio	693
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1917
Officiating Minister	J. C. Fussell Church of England

3 February 1917

Harold Gordon Luxford
Eunice Isobel Currie

Harold Gordon Luxford
Eunice Isabel Currie
💍 1917/1536

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

31
29

Ohaupo
Waiuku

6 days
20 years

Holy Trinity Church Waiuku

692

3 February 1917

Rev. J. C. Fussell Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gordon Luxford	Eunice Isobel Currie
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Gordon Luxford	Eunice Isabel Currie
	💍 1917/1536
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Waiuku
Length of Residence	6 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Waiuku
Folio	692
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Fussell Church of England

24 February 1917

Earl Westhead
Ruth Murray

Earl Westhead
Ruth Murray
💍 1917/1535

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

31
21

Kohe Kohe
Kohe Kohe

31 years
21 years

Registrar's Office Waiuku

691

24 February 1917

S. C. Mahon Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	24 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earl Westhead	Ruth Murray
	💍 1917/1535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Kohe Kohe	Kohe Kohe
Length of Residence	31 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Waiuku
Folio	691
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1917
Officiating Minister	S. C. Mahon Deputy Registrar

27 February 1917

Alfred Henry Leonard Barthow
Winifred Olive Brook

Alfred Henry Leonard Barthow
Winifred Olive Brook
💍 1917/934

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
25

Mount Roskill Auckland
Awhitu

33 years
25 years

In the residence of F. E. J. Brook Awhitu

237

27 February 1917

Rev. R. L. Walker Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	27 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Leonard Barthow	Winifred Olive Brook
	💍 1917/934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Mount Roskill Auckland	Awhitu
Length of Residence	33 years	25 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of F. E. J. Brook Awhitu
Folio	237
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker Presbyterian

17 March 1917

John Alfred Naysmith
Henrietta Elizabeth Braun

John Alfred Nay-Smith
Henrietta Elizabeth Braun
💍 1917/1534

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Storekeeper

29
27

Waiuku
Waiuku

3 years
27 years

Holy Trinity Church Waiuku

690

17 March 1917

Rev. J. C. Fussell Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	17 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alfred Naysmith	Henrietta Elizabeth Braun
BDM Match (95%)	John Alfred Nay-Smith	Henrietta Elizabeth Braun
	💍 1917/1534
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Storekeeper
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Waiuku	Waiuku
Length of Residence	3 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Waiuku
Folio	690
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Fussell Church of England

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).