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 313

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar Henry Ewart 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

3 August 1917

Archibald William Forsyth
Mary Irene Gosnell

Archibald William Forsyth
Mary Irene Nora Gosnell
💍 1917/815

Widower 3/4/1911
Widow 29/5/1916

Farmer
Domestic duties

49
30

Ngatapa, Gisborne
Gisborne

15 years
8 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4187

3 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	68
Date of Notice	3 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald William Forsyth	Mary Irene Gosnell
BDM Match (89%)	Archibald William Forsyth	Mary Irene Nora Gosnell
	💍 1917/815
Condition	Widower 3/4/1911	Widow 29/5/1916
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	49	30
Dwelling Place	Ngatapa, Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	15 years	8 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4187
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

6 August 1917

Ernest Arthur Higham
Jean Agnes Johnson

Ernest Arthur Higham
Jean Agnes Johnson
💍 1917/816

Bachelor
Spinster

Crane Driver
Home duties

34
33

Gisborne
Gisborne

20 years
2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4188

6 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	69
Date of Notice	6 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Higham	Jean Agnes Johnson
	💍 1917/816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Crane Driver	Home duties
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	20 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4188
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

6 August 1917

Henare Taurima
Mere Kiwi

Henare Taurima
Mere Kiwi
💍 1917/817

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

30
40

Wainui, Gisborne
Wainui, Gisborne

8 years
Life

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4189

6 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	70
Date of Notice	6 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henare Taurima	Mere Kiwi
	💍 1917/817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	30	40
Dwelling Place	Wainui, Gisborne	Wainui, Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	Life
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4189
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

10 August 1917

Bertram Hall
Frances Agnes Rose

Bertram Hall
Frances Agnes Rose
💍 1917/818

Bachelor
Spinster

Station hand
Domestic duties

29
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 1/2 years
1 1/2 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

4190

10 August 1917

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister, Gisborne

No	71
Date of Notice	10 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Hall	Frances Agnes Rose
	💍 1917/818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station hand	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	4190
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister, Gisborne

14 August 1917

Samuel Leonard Joll
Lilian Mary Rickard

Samuel Leonard Joll
Lilian Mary Rickard
💍 1917/819

Bachelor
Spinster

Threshing Mill Owner
Domestic servant

34 2/12
26

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
2 3/4 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4191

14 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	72
Date of Notice	14 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Leonard Joll	Lilian Mary Rickard
	💍 1917/819
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Threshing Mill Owner	Domestic servant
Age	34 2/12	26
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	2 3/4 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4191
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, 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).