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 044

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar [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

176

2 March 1917

William Goodfellow
Evelyn Gertrude Parry

William Fordyce
Evelyn Gertrude Paige
💍 1917/1131

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

29
28

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
7 days

St Matthews Church, Auckland

259

2 March 1917

Rev. P. P. Smallfield, Anglican

No	176
Date of Notice	2 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Goodfellow	Evelyn Gertrude Parry
BDM Match (71%)	William Fordyce	Evelyn Gertrude Paige
	💍 1917/1131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Auckland
Folio	259
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. P. Smallfield, Anglican

177

2 March 1917

Arthur Bodwill Hick
Maude Ethel Walters

Arthur Goodwill Hick
Maude Ethel Walters
💍 1917/1108

Bachelor
Widow (19 September 1916)

Soldier

31
29

Auckland
Auckland

9 days
4 months

House of Mrs. P. Barrett, Williamson Avenue, Grey Lynn

260

2 March 1917

Rev. G. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	2 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bodwill Hick	Maude Ethel Walters
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Goodwill Hick	Maude Ethel Walters
	💍 1917/1108
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (19 September 1916)
Profession	Soldier
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	9 days	4 months
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. P. Barrett, Williamson Avenue, Grey Lynn
Folio	260
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

178

2 March 1917

Joseph Gall
Helena Susannah Anderson

Joseph Ball
Helena Susannah Anderson
💍 1917/1109

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet and Chair Maker

27
23

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

261

2 March 1917

Registrar

No	178
Date of Notice	2 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Gall	Helena Susannah Anderson
BDM Match (95%)	Joseph Ball	Helena Susannah Anderson
	💍 1917/1109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet and Chair Maker
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	261
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Registrar

179

3 March 1917

Walker Joseph William Thorp
Florence Ethel Wigg

Walter Joseph William Thorp
Florence Ethel Wigg
💍 1917/1110

Bachelor
Spinster

Drill Hand

31
29

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
6 months

House of Father of Bridegroom, 13 Church St, Ponsonby

262

3 March 1917

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	3 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walker Joseph William Thorp	Florence Ethel Wigg
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Joseph William Thorp	Florence Ethel Wigg
	💍 1917/1110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drill Hand
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	6 months
Marriage Place	House of Father of Bridegroom, 13 Church St, Ponsonby
Folio	262
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

180

3 March 1917

Lawrence Hudson Foster
Margaret Birnie Kinnaird

Lawrence Hudson Fisher
Margaret Gormen Kinnaird
💍 1917/1111

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

35
28

Auckland
Auckland

1 day
7 years

Office of Rev. R. L. Jeffreys, Strand Arcade, Queen St, Auckland

263

3 March 1917

Rev. R. L. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

No	180
Date of Notice	3 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Hudson Foster	Margaret Birnie Kinnaird
BDM Match (85%)	Lawrence Hudson Fisher	Margaret Gormen Kinnaird
	💍 1917/1111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 day	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of Rev. R. L. Jeffreys, Strand Arcade, Queen St, Auckland
Folio	263
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Jeffreys, Presbyterian

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).