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 669

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

18 April 1911

Sydney John Baker
Violet Adamson

Sydney John Baker
Violet Adamson
💍 1911/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

32
23

Thames
Thames

4 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

11/3003

18 April 1911

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	18 April 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney John Baker	Violet Adamson
	💍 1911/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	11/3003
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

22 May 1911

Michael Whelan
Elizabeth Roache

Michael Whelan
Elizabeth Rabe
💍 1911/2710

Widower
Spinster

Iron Moulder
Saleswoman

42
40

Thames
Thames

40 years
39 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

11/2384

22 May 1911

Rev. H. G. Tigan, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	22 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Whelan	Elizabeth Roache
BDM Match (91%)	Michael Whelan	Elizabeth Rabe
	💍 1911/2710
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Iron Moulder	Saleswoman
Age	42	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	40 years	39 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	11/2384
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Tigan, Roman Catholic

27 May 1911

Edward Alexander Brown
Naomi Elizabeth Dykes

Edward Alexander Brown
Naomi Elizabeth Dynes
💍 1911/2871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
23

Matatoki
Matatoki

34 years
23 years

In the house of Mr. E. J. Moore

11/2479

27 May 1911

Thomas H. Salmon, Christians commonly known as Brethren

No	23
Date of Notice	27 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alexander Brown	Naomi Elizabeth Dykes
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Alexander Brown	Naomi Elizabeth Dynes
	💍 1911/2871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Matatoki
Length of Residence	34 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr. E. J. Moore
Folio	11/2479
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1911
Officiating Minister	Thomas H. Salmon, Christians commonly known as Brethren

27 May 1911

Oscar Bennett
Agnes Reed Meredith

Oscar Bennett
Agnes Reed Meredith
💍 1911/2525

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

24
15

Thames
Thames

24 years
4 years

In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

11/1975

Agnes Reed Meredith, Mother

27 May 1911

William H. Potts, Registrar

No	24
Date of Notice	27 May 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Bennett	Agnes Reed Meredith
	💍 1911/2525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	24	15
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	11/1975
Consent	Agnes Reed Meredith, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 May 1911
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts, Registrar

2 June 1911

Lewis Allan O'Neill
Ellen Catherine Josephine Montague

Lewis Allan O'Neill
Ellen Catherine Josephine Montague
💍 1911/2711

Bachelor
Spinster

Traveller
Domestic duties

27
21

Thames
Thames

4 days
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

11/2385

2 June 1911

Rev. H. G. Tigan, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	2 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Allan O'Neill	Ellen Catherine Josephine Montague
	💍 1911/2711
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	11/2385
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Tigan, Roman Catholic

5 June 1911

Samuel Walter Thompson
Margaret Adelaide Whitehouse

Samuel Walter Thompson
Margaret Adelaide Whitehouse
💍 1911/2853

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

26
23

Auckland
Thames

23 years

Baptist Church, Mary Street, Thames

11/2485

5 June 1911

Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

No	26
Date of Notice	5 June 1911
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Walter Thompson	Margaret Adelaide Whitehouse
	💍 1911/2853
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Thames
Length of Residence		23 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	11/2485
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1911
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Hinton, Baptist

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).