Intentions to Marry, 1919 Albertland to Helensville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840481, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919a contains pages 1-500, covering districts from Albertland to Helensville

Page 477

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1919 Registrar A. Stott

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

1 July 1919

Charles Ernest Weal
Hazel Ballinger

Charles Earnest Weal
Hazel Ballinger
💍 1919/6006

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Kaipaki
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Hamilton East

5384

1 July 1919

Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	1 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Weal	Hazel Ballinger
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Earnest Weal	Hazel Ballinger
	💍 1919/6006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Kaipaki	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hamilton East
Folio	5384
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Dean Darby, Roman Catholic

3 July 1919

George Holst
Harriett Fenton

George Holst
Harriet Fenton
💍 1919/5983

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
19

Hamilton
Hamilton

5 days
1 year

Registrar's Office Hamilton

5385

Thomas George Fenton, Father

3 July 1919

A. Stott, Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	3 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Holst	Harriett Fenton
BDM Match (97%)	George Holst	Harriet Fenton
	💍 1919/5983
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	5 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hamilton
Folio	5385
Consent	Thomas George Fenton, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1919
Officiating Minister	A. Stott, Registrar

8 July 1919

George Powell
Mary Ellen Newell

George Powell
Mary Ellen Newell
💍 1919/5984

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
25

Hamilton
Tamahere

4 days
2.5 years

Presbyterian Church Hamilton

5386

8 July 1919

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	70
Date of Notice	8 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Powell	Mary Ellen Newell
	💍 1919/5984
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Tamahere
Length of Residence	4 days	2.5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hamilton
Folio	5386
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

10 July 1919

Duncan Armadale Bennett
Doris Bollard

Duncan Armsdale Bennett
Doris Bollard
💍 1919/5985

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
24

Tamahere
Tamahere

6 years
9 years

Anglican Church Tamahere

5387

10 July 1919

Rev. Williams, Anglican

No	71
Date of Notice	10 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Armadale Bennett	Doris Bollard
BDM Match (98%)	Duncan Armsdale Bennett	Doris Bollard
	💍 1919/5985
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	24
Dwelling Place	Tamahere	Tamahere
Length of Residence	6 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Tamahere
Folio	5387
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. Williams, Anglican

14 July 1919

Thomas Burt Cleland
Gladys Mildred Sanson

Thomas Burt Cleland
Gladys Mildred Sanson
💍 1919/5986

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
33

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse Claudelands

5388

14 July 1919

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	14 July 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Burt Cleland	Gladys Mildred Sanson
	💍 1919/5986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Claudelands
Folio	5388
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, 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).