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 676

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 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

16 December 1911

Daniel Currie
Mary Grace Comer

Daniel Currie
Mary Grace Comer
💍 1911/7444

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

23
21

Thames
Thames

23 years
21 years

St Georges Church, Mackay St, Thames

11/7487

16 December 1911

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	16 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Currie	Mary Grace Comer
	💍 1911/7444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	11/7487
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

16 December 1911

John Wilcox Inns
Beatrice Isabella Taylor

John Wilcox Inns
Beatrice Isabella Taylor
💍 1911/7445

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
20

Thames
Thames

24 years
20 years

St Georges Church, Mackay St, Thames

11/7488

Amelia Taylor, mother

16 December 1911

Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	16 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilcox Inns	Beatrice Isabella Taylor
	💍 1911/7445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Mackay St, Thames
Folio	11/7488
Consent	Amelia Taylor, mother
Date of Certificate	16 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan, Church of England

18 December 1911

Edward Gerrish
Mary Virginia Duncan

Edward Gerrish
May Virginia Duncan
💍 1912/1574

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

26
21

Thames
Thames

26 years
21 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

12/1253

18 December 1911

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	18 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Gerrish	Mary Virginia Duncan
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Gerrish	May Virginia Duncan
	💍 1912/1574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	12/1253
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

18 December 1911

Thomas Langdon
Lottie Winifred Reid

Thomas Langdon
Lottie Winifred Reid
💍 1911/7427

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
19

Thames
Thames

2 days
3 weeks

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

11/7494

Henry Gordon, father

20 December 1911

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	18 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Langdon	Lottie Winifred Reid
	💍 1911/7427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	In the house of Rev J Milne, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	11/7494
Consent	Henry Gordon, father
Date of Certificate	20 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

19 December 1911

William James Bradley Dawson
Emily Majirey

William James Bradley Dawson
Emily Marjurey
💍 1911/9017

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
19

Thames
Thames

1 day
3 days

In the house of Mrs Pell, Pollen Street, Thames

11/7497

Lucy Pell, Mother

22 December 1911

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	55
Date of Notice	19 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Bradley Dawson	Emily Majirey
BDM Match (93%)	William James Bradley Dawson	Emily Marjurey
	💍 1911/9017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Pell, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	11/7497
Consent	Lucy Pell, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 December 1911
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

22 December 1911

William Botter
Mary Ann McGee

William Cotter
Mary Ann McGee
💍 1911/6571

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

28
23

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar Office, Mary Street, Thames

11/6615

22 December 1911

William H Potts, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	22 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Botter	Mary Ann McGee
BDM Match (96%)	William Cotter	Mary Ann McGee
	💍 1911/6571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	11/6615
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1911
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, Registrar

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).