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 100

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. G. [illegible]

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

446

15 May 1917

Edward Bach
Amy Hart

Edward Beech
Amy Hart
💍 1917/2702

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
18

Auckland
Auckland

6 months
6 months

House of Father, 42 Hackett Street, Eden Terrace

1838

John William Hart, Father

15 May 1917

Rev. J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

No	446
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bach	Amy Hart
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Beech	Amy Hart
	💍 1917/2702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Father, 42 Hackett Street, Eden Terrace
Folio	1838
Consent	John William Hart, Father
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

447

15 May 1917

Richard Morrissey
Amelia Brewer

Richard Mounsey
Amelia Brewer
💍 1917/2703

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

29
28

Auckland
Auckland

11 years
Life

St Matthew's Church, Auckland

1839

15 May 1917

Rev. P. Smallfield, Anglican

No	447
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Morrissey	Amelia Brewer
BDM Match (88%)	Richard Mounsey	Amelia Brewer
	💍 1917/2703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 years	Life
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church, Auckland
Folio	1839
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Smallfield, Anglican

448

15 May 1917

William John Owen
Bertha Anne Hurfit

William John Owen
Bertha Annie Hurfit
💍 1917/2704

Divorced, 10 October 1908
Widow, February 1911

Retired Civil Servant

68
45

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
25 years

St David's Church, Auckland

1900

15 May 1917

Rev. J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

No	448
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Owen	Bertha Anne Hurfit
BDM Match (97%)	William John Owen	Bertha Annie Hurfit
	💍 1917/2704
Condition	Divorced, 10 October 1908	Widow, February 1911
Profession	Retired Civil Servant
Age	68	45
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St David's Church, Auckland
Folio	1900
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Saunders, Presbyterian

449

15 May 1917

Edward Henry Sloane
Catherine Eliza McElwain

Edward Henry Sloane
Catherine Eliza McElwain
💍 1917/2761

Bachelor
Spinster

Agent

38
35

Auckland
Auckland

4 days
3 years

House of Mother, 52 Carlton Gore Road, Auckland

1901

15 May 1917

Rt. Rev. Monsignor Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	449
Date of Notice	15 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Sloane	Catherine Eliza McElwain
	💍 1917/2761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Agent
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mother, 52 Carlton Gore Road, Auckland
Folio	1901
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rt. Rev. Monsignor Mahoney, Roman Catholic

450

16 May 1917

Thomas Chaplin
Ethel Reda Conway

Thomas Chaplin
Ethel Reda Conway
💍 1917/2772

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

20
20

Auckland
Auckland

6 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

1902

Patrick Conway, Father

30 May 1917

Registrar

No	450
Date of Notice	16 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Chaplin	Ethel Reda Conway
	💍 1917/2772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	6 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	1902
Consent	Patrick Conway, Father
Date of Certificate	30 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).