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 538

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 31 December 1911 Registrar George Frederick Day

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

2 October 1911

William John McClure
Katha Dawson Abbot

William John McClure
Neitha Dawson Abbot
💍 1911/7707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
25

Opotiki
Opotiki

2 years
25 years

St. John's Church, Opotiki

11/7685

2 October 1911

Rev. R. Francis

No	15
Date of Notice	2 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John McClure	Katha Dawson Abbot
BDM Match (92%)	William John McClure	Neitha Dawson Abbot
	💍 1911/7707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Opotiki
Folio	11/7685
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Francis

30 October 1911

Ronald Henry Galloway
Lily Gordon

Ronald Henry Galloway
Lily Gordon
💍 1911/8263

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 days
2 years

St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki

11/8333

30 October 1911

Rev. W. J. T. Bawden

No	16
Date of Notice	30 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Henry Galloway	Lily Gordon
	💍 1911/8263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki
Folio	11/8333
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. T. Bawden

31 October 1911

George Frederick Day
Florence Genevieve Adele Calvert

George Frederick Day
Florence Genevieve Adelle Calvert
💍 1911/7730

Widower
Spinster

Postmaster
Domestic duties

56
30

Opotiki
Opotiki

8 years at the residence of Mr. F. J. Shaw
6 days

[illegible]

11/7684

31 October 1911

Rev. J. B. Beeche

No	17
Date of Notice	31 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Day	Florence Genevieve Adele Calvert
BDM Match (99%)	George Frederick Day	Florence Genevieve Adelle Calvert
	💍 1911/7730
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Postmaster	Domestic duties
Age	56	30
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	8 years at the residence of Mr. F. J. Shaw	6 days
Marriage Place	[illegible]
Folio	11/7684
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Beeche

12 November 1911

Joseph William Merrie
Linda Shammoers Crosswell

Joseph William Merrie
Linda Shamrock Crosswell
💍 1911/8964

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

29
23

Opotiki
Opotiki

6 days
23 years

St. Mary's Church, Opotiki

11/7720

12 November 1911

Rev. G. M. T. Kreymborg

No	18
Date of Notice	12 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Merrie	Linda Shammoers Crosswell
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph William Merrie	Linda Shamrock Crosswell
	💍 1911/8964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	6 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Opotiki
Folio	11/7720
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. T. Kreymborg

25 November 1911

Frank Edward Collins
Katherine Gertrude Buffett

Frank Edward Collins
Katherine Gertrude Buffett
💍 1911/8262

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
23

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 years
2 years

St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki

11/8332

25 November 1911

Rev. W. J. T. Bawden

No	19
Date of Notice	25 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edward Collins	Katherine Gertrude Buffett
	💍 1911/8262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephen's Church, Opotiki
Folio	11/8332
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. T. Bawden

29 December 1911

Hohni Manihera
Mereana Te Pirini

Hohni Manihera
Mereana Te Pirini
💍 1911/6588

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
31

Te Kaha
Te Kaha

9 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Opotiki

11/6608

29 December 1911

The Registrar of Marriages, Opotiki

No	20
Date of Notice	29 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hohni Manihera	Mereana Te Pirini
	💍 1911/6588
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Te Kaha	Te Kaha
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Opotiki
Folio	11/6608
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1911
Officiating Minister	The Registrar of Marriages, Opotiki

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).