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 710

District of Waiapu Quarter ending 31 March 1911 Registrar Arthur Merritt Beale

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

109

17 January 1911

Hirini Honea
Teana Kawa Gerrard (Laicte)

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

21
21

Reporua
Te Karaka Reporua

all life
all life

Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay

11/310

17 January 1911

Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	17 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hirini Honea	Teana Kawa Gerrard (Laicte)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Reporua	Te Karaka Reporua
Length of Residence	all life	all life
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay
Folio	11/310
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

110

21 January 1911

Allan McNeil Boyd
Jane Gerrard

Alan McNeil Boyd
Jane Gerrard
💍 1911/960

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Maraetai, Port Awanui
Tuperoa

6 months
4 years

Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay

11/311

21 January 1911

Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	21 January 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan McNeil Boyd	Jane Gerrard
BDM Match (97%)	Alan McNeil Boyd	Jane Gerrard
	💍 1911/960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Maraetai, Port Awanui	Tuperoa
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay
Folio	11/311
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

111

4 February 1911

James Hector McNeil
Helen Sylvia

James Hector McRae
Helen Sylvia
💍 1911/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw Hiller
Domestic Duties

32
26

Kohuaroa, Waipiro Bay
Te Puia

2 months
18 months

Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay

11/312

4 February 1911

Registrar

No	111
Date of Notice	4 February 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hector McNeil	Helen Sylvia
BDM Match (89%)	James Hector McRae	Helen Sylvia
	💍 1911/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw Hiller	Domestic Duties
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Kohuaroa, Waipiro Bay	Te Puia
Length of Residence	2 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay
Folio	11/312
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

112

9 March 1911

Thomas Henry Reedy
Hemi Whangapirita

Thomas Henry Reedy
Heni Whangapirita
💍 1911/938

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
29

Tuperoa
Tuperoa

all life
2 months

Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay

11/313

9 March 1911

Registrar

No	112
Date of Notice	9 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Reedy	Hemi Whangapirita
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Henry Reedy	Heni Whangapirita
	💍 1911/938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	29
Dwelling Place	Tuperoa	Tuperoa
Length of Residence	all life	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Waipiro Bay
Folio	11/313
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Registrar

113

16 March 1911

John Harry McNeil
Jessie Isabel Bruce

John Henry McNeil
Jessie Isabella Bruce
💍 1911/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
23

Port Awanui
Fernside, Tokomaru Bay

about 10 years
about 15 years

Fernside, Tokomaru Bay

11/400

16 March 1911

Rev. J. W. Dairdoon

No	113
Date of Notice	16 March 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harry McNeil	Jessie Isabel Bruce
BDM Match (89%)	John Henry McNeil	Jessie Isabella Bruce
	💍 1911/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Port Awanui	Fernside, Tokomaru Bay
Length of Residence	about 10 years	about 15 years
Marriage Place	Fernside, Tokomaru Bay
Folio	11/400
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Dairdoon

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).