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 104

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar L. W. Graham

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

466

21 May 1917

Patrick Henry Washington Russell
Lilian Mary Chapman

Patrick Henry Washington Fussell
Lilian May Chapman
💍 1917/2767

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
21

Auckland
Auckland

life
life

All Saints Church Ponsonby

1915

21 May 1917

Archdeacon W. Calder, Anglican

No	466
Date of Notice	21 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Henry Washington Russell	Lilian Mary Chapman
BDM Match (96%)	Patrick Henry Washington Fussell	Lilian May Chapman
	💍 1917/2767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	All Saints Church Ponsonby
Folio	1915
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon W. Calder, Anglican

467

21 May 1917

Thomas Hilditch Hurley
Annie Torrens

Thomas Hilditch Hurley
Annie Torrens
💍 1917/2768

Widower 16 July 1916
Spinster

Cabinet maker

34
26

Auckland
Auckland

33 years
14 years

St Matthews Church Auckland

1916

21 May 1917

Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

No	467
Date of Notice	21 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hilditch Hurley	Annie Torrens
	💍 1917/2768
Condition	Widower 16 July 1916	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	33 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	1916
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

468

22 May 1917

John St Rose Tooke
Florence Margaret Kirk

John Stleger Fookes
Florence Margaret Kirk
💍 1917/2769

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

41
37

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
5 years

Anglican Church Otahuhu

1917

22 May 1917

Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

No	468
Date of Notice	22 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John St Rose Tooke	Florence Margaret Kirk
BDM Match (82%)	John Stleger Fookes	Florence Margaret Kirk
	💍 1917/2769
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Otahuhu
Folio	1917
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Mason, Anglican

469

23 May 1917

John Chittie Clendon
Annie Clendon

John Chitty Clendon
Annie Clendon
💍 1917/2770

Divorced 14 June 1912
Divorced 14 June 1912

Quarryman

45
35

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
4 years

Registrars Office Auckland

1918

23 May 1917

Registrar

No	469
Date of Notice	23 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Chittie Clendon	Annie Clendon
BDM Match (95%)	John Chitty Clendon	Annie Clendon
	💍 1917/2770
Condition	Divorced 14 June 1912	Divorced 14 June 1912
Profession	Quarryman
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Auckland
Folio	1918
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

470

24 May 1917

James Walker Whitehouse
Elia Canning

James Walter Whitehouse
Celia Canning
💍 1917/2771

Widower 24 March 1915
Spinster

Farmer

34
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 years
life

St Matthews Church Auckland

1919

24 May 1917

Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

No	470
Date of Notice	24 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walker Whitehouse	Elia Canning
BDM Match (90%)	James Walter Whitehouse	Celia Canning
	💍 1917/2771
Condition	Widower 24 March 1915	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 years	life
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Auckland
Folio	1919
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Anglican

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).