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 311

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar Geo H. Bull

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

02 July 1917

Philip Walsh
Olive May Overham

Philip Walsh
Olive May Oxenham
💍 1917/823

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

41
19

Makauri
Makauri, Poverty Bay

Life
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Makauri, Poverty Bay

4177

Fred Overham (Father)

02 July 1917

Rev Stephen Farragher, Catholic Minister, Ormond

No	58
Date of Notice	02 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Walsh	Olive May Overham
BDM Match (94%)	Philip Walsh	Olive May Oxenham
	💍 1917/823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	41	19
Dwelling Place	Makauri	Makauri, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	Life	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Makauri, Poverty Bay
Folio	4177
Consent	Fred Overham (Father)
Date of Certificate	02 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Stephen Farragher, Catholic Minister, Ormond

04 July 1917

Christopher Hennessy
Frederica Moran

Christopher Hennessy
Frederica Moran
💍 1917/830

Bachelor
Widow

Horsebreeder
Household Duties

33
32

Te Hapara, Gisborne
Te Hapara, Gisborne

About 6 years
About 5 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4178

04 July 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	59
Date of Notice	04 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher Hennessy	Frederica Moran
	💍 1917/830
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Horsebreeder	Household Duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Te Hapara, Gisborne	Te Hapara, Gisborne
Length of Residence	About 6 years	About 5 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4178
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

05 July 1917

Allen Henderson Wallace
Jessie Peremoana Harris

Allen Henderson Wallace
Jessie Reremoana Harris
💍 1917/831

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

25
19

Gisborne
Kaiti, Gisborne

15 years
Life

St Paul's Church, Kaiti

4179

L. L. Harris (Mother)

05 July 1917

Rev. Douglas Blomfield Malcolm, Church of England, Gisborne

No	60
Date of Notice	05 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Henderson Wallace	Jessie Peremoana Harris
BDM Match (98%)	Allen Henderson Wallace	Jessie Reremoana Harris
	💍 1917/831
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	15 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Kaiti
Folio	4179
Consent	L. L. Harris (Mother)
Date of Certificate	05 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Douglas Blomfield Malcolm, Church of England, Gisborne

11 July 1917

Arthur French
Ada Bayliss

Arthur French
Ada Bayliss
💍 1917/832

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Servant

31
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
2 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4180

11 July 1917

Rev. Horace Packer, Church of England, Gisborne

No	61
Date of Notice	11 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur French	Ada Bayliss
	💍 1917/832
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Servant
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4180
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packer, Church of England, Gisborne

21 July 1917

Herbert Henry Maxfield
Catherine Kane

Herbert Henry Maxfield
Catherine Kane
💍 1917/833

Bachelor
Spinster

Station hand
Housemaid

36
32

Ngatapa, Gisborne
Matawhero, Gisborne

8 years
Life

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4181

21 July 1917

Rev Father Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister, Gisborne

No	62
Date of Notice	21 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Henry Maxfield	Catherine Kane
	💍 1917/833
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station hand	Housemaid
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Ngatapa, Gisborne	Matawhero, Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	4181
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister, 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).