Intentions to Marry, 1911 Auckland, Taranaki

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840445, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1911 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, (1911a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1911b), and Canterbury, Otago, Chatham Islands (1911c).

Page 496

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar George Illingworth

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

4 January 1911

Ernest Harrison Howan
Mary Jane Bradford

Ernest Harrison Howan
Mary Jane Mudford
💍 1911/1634

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Lady help

25
24

Matamata
Matamata

9 weeks
8 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Matamata

11/852

4 January 1911

Rev C A Stewart

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harrison Howan	Mary Jane Bradford
BDM Match (92%)	Ernest Harrison Howan	Mary Jane Mudford
	💍 1911/1634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Lady help
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	9 weeks	8 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Matamata
Folio	11/852
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev C A Stewart

5 January 1911

Henry Alfred Francis
Irene Lydia Connell

Henry Alfred Francis
Irene Lydia Connell
💍 1911/4186

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Home duties

24
21

Matamata
Matamata

4 years
6 years

Church of England, Matamata

11/4021

5 January 1911

Rev Ernest Fletcher

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Francis	Irene Lydia Connell
	💍 1911/4186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Home duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Matamata
Folio	11/4021
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Ernest Fletcher

1 February 1911

Richard Bennett
Mary Ann Hyde Hutchinson

Richard Bennett
Mary Ann Hyde Hutchinson
💍 1911/1989

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

35
28

Morrinsville (Walton)
Walton

6 month 3 Days
6 years

Private Residence Mr. C. G. Hutchinson, Walton

11/1517

1 February 1911

Rev. C A Stewart

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Bennett	Mary Ann Hyde Hutchinson
	💍 1911/1989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville (Walton)	Walton
Length of Residence	6 month 3 Days	6 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence Mr. C. G. Hutchinson, Walton
Folio	11/1517
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. C A Stewart

16 February 1911

Roland Thomas Watson
Emily Jane Green

Rowland Thomas Watson
Emily Jane Green
💍 1911/4382

Bachelor
Spinster

Creamery Manager
Domestic Duties

23
18

Matamata
Matamata

3 years
5 years

Church of England, Matamata

11/4149

Charles Smith Green, Father

16 February 1911

Rev Chas A Tisdall

No	4
Date of Notice	16 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Thomas Watson	Emily Jane Green
BDM Match (98%)	Rowland Thomas Watson	Emily Jane Green
	💍 1911/4382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Creamery Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Matamata
Folio	11/4149
Consent	Charles Smith Green, Father
Date of Certificate	16 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Chas A Tisdall

20 February 1911

Edmund James Stewart
Helene Margaret Ring

Edmund James Stewart
Helene Margaret Ring
💍 1911/4321

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

24
22

Hamilton
Hinuera

3 1/2 years
22 years

Residence of W C Ring, Hinuera

11/4081

20 February 1911

Archdeacon Willis

No	5
Date of Notice	20 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund James Stewart	Helene Margaret Ring
	💍 1911/4321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hinuera
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W C Ring, Hinuera
Folio	11/4081
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon Willis

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).