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 854

District of Patea Quarter ending 31 December 1911 Registrar Albert Jenner

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

Arthur Henry Moncrief Wright
Winifred Gladys Nixon

Arthur Henry Mancrief Wright
Winifred Gladys Nixon
💍 1911/7491

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic

28
26

Patea
Longburn

1 year 3 months

Longburn Parish Hall

11/7560

2 October 1911

Rev H. G. Rosher

No	52
Date of Notice	2 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Moncrief Wright	Winifred Gladys Nixon
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Henry Mancrief Wright	Winifred Gladys Nixon
	💍 1911/7491
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Patea	Longburn
Length of Residence	1 year 3 months
Marriage Place	Longburn Parish Hall
Folio	11/7560
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Rosher

6 October 1911

Milfred Thomas Simmono
Rubinette Jane Brewer

Wilfred Thomas Simmons
Rubinetta Jane Brewer
💍 1911/7698

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic

31
25

Patea
Waitotara

7 years

St Stephens Church

11/7803

6 October 1911

Rev H. J. Deane

No	53
Date of Notice	6 October 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Milfred Thomas Simmono	Rubinette Jane Brewer
BDM Match (93%)	Wilfred Thomas Simmons	Rubinetta Jane Brewer
	💍 1911/7698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Patea	Waitotara
Length of Residence	7 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church
Folio	11/7803
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. Deane

23 November 1911

George Thomas Watkins
Isabella Olive Maude Gray

George Thomas Watkins
Isabella Olivine Maud Gray
💍 1911/7743

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter maker
Domestic Duties

30
26

Whenuakura
Whenuakura

2 years
4 years

Kaharoa Hall

11/7848

23 November 1911

Rev John Hobson White

No	54
Date of Notice	23 November 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Watkins	Isabella Olive Maude Gray
BDM Match (94%)	George Thomas Watkins	Isabella Olivine Maud Gray
	💍 1911/7743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter maker	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Whenuakura	Whenuakura
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Kaharoa Hall
Folio	11/7848
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev John Hobson White

6 December 1911

John Edwin Wacker
Mabel Annie Dickson

John Edwin Walker
Mabel Annie Dickson
💍 1911/7680

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic

30
27

Te Kuiti
Patea

3 days
27 years

St George's Church of England

11/7659

6 December 1911

Rev H. J. Deane

No	55
Date of Notice	6 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edwin Wacker	Mabel Annie Dickson
BDM Match (97%)	John Edwin Walker	Mabel Annie Dickson
	💍 1911/7680
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Patea
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church of England
Folio	11/7659
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. Deane

29 December 1911

Percy George Jackson
Cecilia Dickson

Percy George Jackson
Cecilia Dickson
💍 1912/1698

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic Duties

36
31

Foxton
Manutahi

3 days
14 years

Private residence of Mr. Michael O'Sullivan

11/1409

29 December 1911

Rev Edward Duffy

No	56
Date of Notice	29 December 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy George Jackson	Cecilia Dickson
	💍 1912/1698
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Manutahi
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr. Michael O'Sullivan
Folio	11/1409
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev Edward Duffy

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).