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 664

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1911 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

4 January 1911

John Gorris
Christina Isabella Coxhead

John Norris
Christina Isabella Coxhead
💍 1911/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Domestic duties

26
21

Thames
Thames

5 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street

11/457

4 January 1911

Rev. H. G. Legar, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gorris	Christina Isabella Coxhead
BDM Match (95%)	John Norris	Christina Isabella Coxhead
	💍 1911/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street
Folio	11/457
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Legar, Roman Catholic

13 January 1911

Percy Spear
Ruby Bedford

Percy Spear
Ruby Bedford
💍 1911/1169

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

27
21

Puriri
Puriri

12 months
21 years

In the house of Mr. F. Bedford, Puriri

11/336

13 January 1911

Rev. G. P. Hunt, Primitive Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	13 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Spear	Ruby Bedford
	💍 1911/1169
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	12 months	21 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. F. Bedford, Puriri
Folio	11/336
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt, Primitive Methodist

18 January 1911

Arthur Henry Lane
Ellen McCollum

Arthur Henry Lane
Ellen McCollum
💍 1911/4312

Bachelor
Spinster

Batteryhand
Domestic duties

27
21

Thames
Thames

4 days
6 days

In the house of Mr. McDuff, Hape Creek, Thames

11/337

18 January 1911

Rev. J. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

No	3
Date of Notice	18 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Lane	Ellen McCollum
	💍 1911/4312
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Batteryhand	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	6 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. McDuff, Hape Creek, Thames
Folio	11/337
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Trestrail, Methodist Church of Australasia

23 January 1911

William Vallance
Elenor Agnes McMurtrie

William Vallance
Elenor Agnes McMurtrie
💍 1911/747

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Sailoress

29
27

Thames
Thames

2 days
2 days

In the house of Rev. J. Milne, Rolleston Street, Thames

11/128

25 January 1911

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Vallance	Elenor Agnes McMurtrie
	💍 1911/747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Sailoress
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	2 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev. J. Milne, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	11/128
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

28 January 1911

William Annesley Thompson
Amy Henrietta Benedicta Jetta Jenssen

William Annesley Thompson
Amy Henrietta Benedicta Jetta Jenssen
💍 1911/754

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

27
26

Thames
Thames

3 months
4 days

In the house of the Rev. J. Milne, Rolleston Street, Thames

11/129

28 January 1911

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	28 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Annesley Thompson	Amy Henrietta Benedicta Jetta Jenssen
	💍 1911/754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 months	4 days
Marriage Place	In the house of the Rev. J. Milne, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	11/129
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

1 February 1911

Thomas Andrew Troughton
Rosina Rebecca Innis

Thomas Andrew Troughton
Rosina Rebecca Innis
💍 1911/755

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
24

Thames
Wharepoa

1 day
24 years

In the house of Mr. J. Innis, Wharepoa

11/130

4 February 1911

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	1 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Andrew Troughton	Rosina Rebecca Innis
	💍 1911/755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	1 day	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. J. Innis, Wharepoa
Folio	11/130
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).