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 144

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar A. W. du Pont

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

661

27 July 1917

Gustav Edward Wolfframm
Lena Douglas

Gustav Edward Wolfgramm
Lena Douglas
💍 1917/4569

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

22
19

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
3 days

Registrar's Office Auckland

3944

Edward Rangie Douglas, Father

27 July 1917

Registrar

No	661
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gustav Edward Wolfframm	Lena Douglas
BDM Match (98%)	Gustav Edward Wolfgramm	Lena Douglas
	💍 1917/4569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Auckland
Folio	3944
Consent	Edward Rangie Douglas, Father
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

662

27 July 1917

Robert William Thorburn
Bertha Howell

Robert William Thorburn
Bertha Howell
💍 1917/4666

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

30
20

Auckland
Auckland

2 years
Life

St Matthews Church Auckland

3991

John James Howell, Father

27 July 1917

Rev J. C. Calder, Anglican

No	662
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Thorburn	Bertha Howell
	💍 1917/4666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	3991
Consent	John James Howell, Father
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. C. Calder, Anglican

663

27 July 1917

Leslie Leonard Purdie
Edith Muriel Goldsmith

Leslie Leonard Purdy
Edith Muriel Goldsmith
💍 1917/4571

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker

21
18

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
2 years

House of Rev T. A. Thompson, Summer Rd, Ponsonby

3992

Marie Ann Goldsmith, mother

27 July 1917

Rev T. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	663
Date of Notice	27 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Leonard Purdie	Edith Muriel Goldsmith
BDM Match (95%)	Leslie Leonard Purdy	Edith Muriel Goldsmith
	💍 1917/4571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev T. A. Thompson, Summer Rd, Ponsonby
Folio	3992
Consent	Marie Ann Goldsmith, mother
Date of Certificate	27 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev T. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

664

28 July 1917

Joseph William Henry Bowman
Mary Abrams

Joseph William Henry Bowmar
Mary Abrams
💍 1917/4572

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
8 years

St Paul's Presbyterian Church Devonport

3946

28 July 1917

Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

No	664
Date of Notice	28 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Henry Bowman	Mary Abrams
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph William Henry Bowmar	Mary Abrams
	💍 1917/4572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St Paul's Presbyterian Church Devonport
Folio	3946
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

665

30 July 1917

Joseph Brooks Willis
Mary Elizabeth Frost

Joseph Brooks Willis
May Elizabeth Croot
💍 1917/4573

Bachelor
Spinster

Picture Frame maker

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
10 years

Presbyterian Church Devonport

3947

30 July 1917

Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

No	665
Date of Notice	30 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Brooks Willis	Mary Elizabeth Frost
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Brooks Willis	May Elizabeth Croot
	💍 1917/4573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Picture Frame maker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Devonport
Folio	3947
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev P. Budd, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).