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 314

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

18 August 1917

Matthew Joseph Hickey
Ann (Minn) Winifred Cooke

Matthew Joseph Hickey
Ann Winifred Cooke
💍 1917/820

Bachelor
Divorced 8/8/1917

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Servant

26
35

Gisborne
Gisborne

9 months
6 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

4192

18 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	73
Date of Notice	18 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Joseph Hickey	Ann (Minn) Winifred Cooke
BDM Match (86%)	Matthew Joseph Hickey	Ann Winifred Cooke
	💍 1917/820
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 8/8/1917
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Servant
Age	26	35
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 months	6 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	4192
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

20 August 1917

Alfred John White
Doris Percy Rees

Alfred John White
Doris Percy Rees
💍 1917/821

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Service
Domestic Duties

23
21

Featherston Military Camp
Gisborne

Life
Life

Holy Trinity Church Gisborne

4193

20 August 1917

Rev. Horace Packe Church of England Gisborne

No	74
Date of Notice	20 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John White	Doris Percy Rees
	💍 1917/821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Service	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston Military Camp	Gisborne
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Gisborne
Folio	4193
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Horace Packe Church of England Gisborne

29 August 1917

John Christopher Harding
Ada Maria McGregor

John Christopher Harding
Ada Maria McGregor
💍 1917/822

Bachelor
(A married woman whose husband has been absent from her for the past 7 years she not knowing during that period at any time whether he was alive or dead during the 7 years last past - )

Seaman
Domestic duties

40
46

Gisborne
Gisborne

13 years
13 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

4194

29 August 1917

Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	75
Date of Notice	29 August 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Christopher Harding	Ada Maria McGregor
	💍 1917/822
Condition	Bachelor	(A married woman whose husband has been absent from her for the past 7 years she not knowing during that period at any time whether he was alive or dead during the 7 years last past - )
Profession	Seaman	Domestic duties
Age	40	46
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	13 years	13 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	4194
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 August 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

06 September 1917

Samuel McKee
Mabel Jefferson Beattie

Samuel McKee
Mabel Jefferson Beattie
💍 1917/824

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Shop Assistant

22
19

Makaraka
Gisborne

2 years
5 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

4195

James Beattie Father

06 September 1917

Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	76
Date of Notice	06 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel McKee	Mabel Jefferson Beattie
	💍 1917/824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Shop Assistant
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Makaraka	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	4195
Consent	James Beattie Father
Date of Certificate	06 September 1917
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

08 September 1917

Frederick Woodhouse Powell
May Isobel Coleman

Frederick Woodhouse Powell
May Isobel Coleman
💍 1917/825

Bachelor
(A married woman whose husband has been absent from her for the past seven years she not knowing at any time during the seven years last past, he was dead or alive)

Painter
Domestic duties

33
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 years
4 years

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

4196

08 September 1917

Henry Ewart Hill Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	77
Date of Notice	08 September 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Woodhouse Powell	May Isobel Coleman
	💍 1917/825
Condition	Bachelor	(A married woman whose husband has been absent from her for the past seven years she not knowing at any time during the seven years last past, he was dead or alive)
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	4196
Consent
Date of Certificate	08 September 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).