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 301

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar H. G. Hill

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

1 February 1917

John Billings
May Kathleen Hardy

John Billings
May Kathleen Hardy
💍 1917/1554

Bachelor
Widow

Carrier
Domestic Duties

35
34

Gisborne
Gisborne

14 years
4 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

710

1 February 1917

Rev Thomas Crane, Catholic Minister

No	11
Date of Notice	1 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Billings	May Kathleen Hardy
	💍 1917/1554
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	14 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	710
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Crane, Catholic Minister

7 February 1917

Charles Edwin Conn
Catherine Iris Spence

Charles Edwin Conn
Catherine Iris Spence
💍 1917/1555

Bachelor
Spinster

N.Z. Expeditionary Forces
Domestic Duties

23
20

Puha, Poverty Bay
Puha, Poverty Bay

2 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

711

William Ross Spence (Father)

7 February 1917

Rev James B. Hall, Presbyterian Minister

No	12
Date of Notice	7 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Conn	Catherine Iris Spence
	💍 1917/1555
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	N.Z. Expeditionary Forces	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Puha, Poverty Bay	Puha, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Folio	711
Consent	William Ross Spence (Father)
Date of Certificate	7 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev James B. Hall, Presbyterian Minister

13 February 1917

Eric Edward Mellor
Eva Forbes

Eric Edward Mellor
Eva Forbes
💍 1917/1563

Bachelor
Spinster

Carriage Builder
Domestic Duties

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 years
14 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

719

Mary Hind (mother)

13 February 1917

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	13
Date of Notice	13 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Edward Mellor	Eva Forbes
	💍 1917/1563
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carriage Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	719
Consent	Mary Hind (mother)
Date of Certificate	13 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

13 February 1917

Te Muini Kerekere
Heni Rakatao Te Sike

Te Miini Kerekere
Hine Rakakao Te Eke
💍 1917/1565

Widower
Spinster

Settler
House Duties

48
40

Kaiti, Gisborne
Kaiti, Gisborne

Life
Life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

720

13 February 1917

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	14
Date of Notice	13 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Te Muini Kerekere	Heni Rakatao Te Sike
BDM Match (85%)	Te Miini Kerekere	Hine Rakakao Te Eke
	💍 1917/1565
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Settler	House Duties
Age	48	40
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	720
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

24 February 1917

Martin Williams
Ellen Mary Kirk

Martin Williams
Ellen Mary Kirk
💍 1917/1566

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

31
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
3 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

721

24 February 1917

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	15
Date of Notice	24 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Williams	Ellen Mary Kirk
	💍 1917/1566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	721
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

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).