Intentions to Marry, 1909 Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840439, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1909 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay (1909a), Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1909b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1909c).

Page 672

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1909 Registrar William Henry Potts

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 1909

Charles Percival Woodhams
Annie Isabel Parsons

Charles Percival Woodhams
Annie Isabel Parsons
💍 1909/2978

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
20

Thames
Thames

27 years
20 years

Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames

09/4198

Leonard Walter Parsons, Father

1 July 1909

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	1 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Percival Woodhams	Annie Isabel Parsons
	💍 1909/2978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	09/4198
Consent	Leonard Walter Parsons, Father
Date of Certificate	1 July 1909
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

1 July 1909

William John Helham
Clara Sheldon

William John Nelham
Clara Sheldon
💍 1909/3122

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic duties

23
18

Thames
Thames

14 months
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

09/4200

Florence Julia Cunningham, Mother

1 July 1909

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	1 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Helham	Clara Sheldon
BDM Match (97%)	William John Nelham	Clara Sheldon
	💍 1909/3122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	14 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	09/4200
Consent	Florence Julia Cunningham, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

3 July 1909

Colin James Fisher
Ivy Winifred Dynes

Colin James Fisher
Ivy Winifred Dynes
💍 1909/3126

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
19

Matatoki
Matatoki

6 years
2 years

In the house of Mr. J. Cooper, Matatoki

09/4201

William Dynes, Father

3 July 1909

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	3 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin James Fisher	Ivy Winifred Dynes
	💍 1909/3126
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Matatoki
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Cooper, Matatoki
Folio	09/4201
Consent	William Dynes, Father
Date of Certificate	3 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

3 July 1909

David Twohill
Alice May McEntee

David Twohill
Alice May McEnteer
💍 1909/3248

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Assistant
Domestic duties

29
29

Thames
Thames

29 years
29 years

St. Francis Church, Thames

09/4253

3 July 1909

Rev. H. G. Ligan, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	3 July 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Twohill	Alice May McEntee
BDM Match (97%)	David Twohill	Alice May McEnteer
	💍 1909/3248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	29 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	09/4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Ligan, Roman Catholic

9 August 1909

Earl Reginald Jenkin
Ivy Claris McMahon

Carl Reginald Jenkin
Joy Claris McMahon
💍 1909/3112

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Milliner

23
21

Thames
Thames

23 years
1 year 8 months

In the house of Mr. J. Jenkin, Augustus Street, Thames

09/4208

9 August 1909

Rev. H. H. Hinton, Baptist

No	51
Date of Notice	9 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earl Reginald Jenkin	Ivy Claris McMahon
BDM Match (92%)	Carl Reginald Jenkin	Joy Claris McMahon
	💍 1909/3112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Milliner
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	1 year 8 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Jenkin, Augustus Street, Thames
Folio	09/4208
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. H. Hinton, Baptist

10 August 1909

Joseph Wearne
Helena Marguarata McKee

Jaketh Joseph Wearne
Helena Marguarita McKee
💍 1909/3249

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

30
25

Thames
Thames

2 days
25 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

09/4254

11 August 1909

Rev. H. G. Ligan, Roman Catholic

No	52
Date of Notice	10 August 1909
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Wearne	Helena Marguarata McKee
BDM Match (80%)	Jaketh Joseph Wearne	Helena Marguarita McKee
	💍 1909/3249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	09/4254
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1909
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Ligan, Roman Catholic

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).