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 028

District of Auckland Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. W. Park

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

5 February 1917

Joseph John Conquest
Lily Agnes Chadwick

Joseph John Conquest
Lily Agnes Chadwick
💍 1917/1037

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey

33
30

Auckland
Auckland

12 years
14 years

St Matthew's Church

188

5 February 1917

Rev. J. E. A. Calder, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	5 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph John Conquest	Lily Agnes Chadwick
	💍 1917/1037
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	12 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church
Folio	188
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. A. Calder, Anglican

6 February 1917

James Smith Johnston
Edith Marguerite Ellen Taylor

James Smith Johnston
Edith Marguerite Ellen Taylor
💍 1917/1038

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Marker

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

Life
3 years

St James' Manse

189

6 February 1917

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	6 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Smith Johnston	Edith Marguerite Ellen Taylor
	💍 1917/1038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Marker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	Life	3 years
Marriage Place	St James' Manse
Folio	189
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

6 February 1917

Robert Henry Todd
Priscilla Hay

Robert Henry Todd
Priscilla May
💍 1917/1039

Widower 24 September 1916
Widow 7 March 1913

Grocer's Assistant

40
29

Auckland
Auckland

13 months
10 months

Methodist Church, Franklin Road

190

6 February 1917

Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

No	98
Date of Notice	6 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Todd	Priscilla Hay
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Henry Todd	Priscilla May
	💍 1917/1039
Condition	Widower 24 September 1916	Widow 7 March 1913
Profession	Grocer's Assistant
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	13 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Franklin Road
Folio	190
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

6 February 1917

John William Kendall
Sarah Roxana Warren

John William Kendall
Sarah Georgina Warren
💍 1917/43

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

30
24

Auckland
Auckland

4 years
12 years, Mt Eden

St Barnabas' Church

191

6 February 1917

Rev. E. J. McFarland, Anglican

No	99
Date of Notice	6 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Kendall	Sarah Roxana Warren
BDM Match (88%)	John William Kendall	Sarah Georgina Warren
	💍 1917/43
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years, Mt Eden
Marriage Place	St Barnabas' Church
Folio	191
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. McFarland, Anglican

100

6 February 1917

Alexander James Henry Butler
Selinda Jane Payne

Alexander James Henry Butler
Belinda Jane Payne
💍 1917/2254

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier

24
19

Auckland
Auckland

20 years
17 years, Auckland

St Matthew's Church

1441

William Payne, Father

6 February 1917

Rev. J. E. A. Calder, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	6 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander James Henry Butler	Selinda Jane Payne
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander James Henry Butler	Belinda Jane Payne
	💍 1917/2254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	20 years	17 years, Auckland
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church
Folio	1441
Consent	William Payne, Father
Date of Certificate	6 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. 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).