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 515

District of Ohinemuri Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar George William Woods

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

27 January 1911

Richard John Wright
L'Amour Corbett

Richard John Claude Wight
L'Amour Corbett
💍 1911/963

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

46
30

Paeroa
Paeroa

23 years
7 years

Residence of Bridegroom's brother Arthur Allan Wright, Netherton

11/349

27 January 1911

Rev J. P. Cowie, Paeroa

No	1
Date of Notice	27 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Wright	L'Amour Corbett
BDM Match (84%)	Richard John Claude Wight	L'Amour Corbett
	💍 1911/963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	46	30
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	23 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's brother Arthur Allan Wright, Netherton
Folio	11/349
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. P. Cowie, Paeroa

3 February 1911

Ernest Arthur Chester
Maggie Varley

Ernest Arthur Chester
Maggie Varley
💍 1911/1191

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home duties

27
30

Paeroa
Waihou

15 months
4 months

Presbyterian Church, Tearoha

11/460

3 February 1911

Rev W. C. Blair, Tearoha

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Arthur Chester	Maggie Varley
	💍 1911/1191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Waihou
Length of Residence	15 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tearoha
Folio	11/460
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev W. C. Blair, Tearoha

9 February 1911

Duncan Phillip McKay
Annie Gibb

Duncan Phillip McKay
Annie Gibb
💍 1911/4185

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Home duties

28
34

Karangahake
Karangahake

8 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Paeroa

11/4020

9 February 1911

Rev J. J. Hackett, Paeroa

No	3
Date of Notice	9 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Phillip McKay	Annie Gibb
	💍 1911/4185
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	28	34
Dwelling Place	Karangahake	Karangahake
Length of Residence	8 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Paeroa
Folio	11/4020
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Hackett, Paeroa

17 February 1911

Arthur Fisher
Emily Judith Wyatt

Arthur Fisher
Emily Judith Wyatt
💍 1911/964

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

35
23

Netherton
Netherton

15 years
10 years

Residence of Amos Fisher, Netherton

11/350

17 February 1911

Rev J. P. Cowie, Paeroa

No	4
Date of Notice	17 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Fisher	Emily Judith Wyatt
	💍 1911/964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Netherton	Netherton
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Amos Fisher, Netherton
Folio	11/350
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J. P. Cowie, Paeroa

1 March 1911

John Leslie Hanna
Daisy Winifred Hague-Smith

John Leslie Hanna
Daisy Winifred Hague Smith
💍 1911/2776

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Home duties

27
31

Paeroa
Paeroa

7 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Paeroa

11/2260

1 March 1911

Rev James Lowery

No	5
Date of Notice	1 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leslie Hanna	Daisy Winifred Hague-Smith
BDM Match (98%)	John Leslie Hanna	Daisy Winifred Hague Smith
	💍 1911/2776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Home duties
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Paeroa
Folio	11/2260
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev James Lowery

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).