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 312

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

27 July 1917

Robert William Goodley
Edith Violet Kent

Robert William Goodley
Edith Violet Kent
💍 1917/813

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic duties

28
25

Gisborne
Makaraka, Poverty Bay

6 years
Life

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4185

27 July 1917

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

No	63
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Goodley	Edith Violet Kent
	💍 1917/813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Makaraka, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4185
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

30 July 1917

George Brown
Emily Hadwin

George Brown
Emily Hadwin
💍 1917/836

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
30

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 years
5 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4184

30 July 1917

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

No	64
Date of Notice	30 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Brown	Emily Hadwin
	💍 1917/836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	30
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4184
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

30 July 1917

Norman Hamilton
Alice Martha May Porep

Norman Hamilton
Alice Martha May Dorey
💍 1917/814

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
31

Kaiteratahi, Poverty Bay
Kaiteratahi, Poverty Bay

About 2 1/2 months
1 month

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

4186

30 July 1917

Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

No	65
Date of Notice	30 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Hamilton	Alice Martha May Porep
BDM Match (95%)	Norman Hamilton	Alice Martha May Dorey
	💍 1917/814
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Kaiteratahi, Poverty Bay	Kaiteratahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	About 2 1/2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	4186
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

31 July 1917

William Luke Ellmers
Eva Myrtle Irene Cole

William Luke Ellmers
Eva Myrtle Irene Cole
💍 1917/834

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

28
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

27 years
1 1/2 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4182

Eva Henrietta Cole (Mother)

31 July 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	66
Date of Notice	31 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Luke Ellmers	Eva Myrtle Irene Cole
	💍 1917/834
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	27 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4182
Consent	Eva Henrietta Cole (Mother)
Date of Certificate	31 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

1 August 1917

Andrew Gregg
Johanna Temple

Andrew Gregg
Johanna Temple
💍 1917/835

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

21
23

Pakarae, East Coast
Pakarae, East Coast

About 4 months
About 4 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

4183

1 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	67
Date of Notice	1 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Gregg	Johanna Temple
	💍 1917/835
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Pakarae, East Coast	Pakarae, East Coast
Length of Residence	About 4 months	About 4 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	4183
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 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).