Intentions to Marry, 1912 Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840448, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1912 is bound in three volumes - Auckland, Taranaki, Gisborne (1912a), Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland (1912b), and Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Chatham Islands (1912c).

Page 695

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1912 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

24 April 1912

Edward Watson
Beatrice Emily Griffin

Edward Watson
Beatrice Emily Griffin
💍 1912/3525

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

30
19

Thames
Thames

30 years
7 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

12/3180

Jonathan Griffin (Father)

24 April 1912

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	24 April 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Watson	Beatrice Emily Griffin
	💍 1912/3525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	12/3180
Consent	Jonathan Griffin (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 April 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

1 May 1912

Howard Osborne
Daisy Ford

Howard Osborne
Daisy Ford
💍 1912/3189

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Waitress

22
18

Thames
Thames

15 years
4 years

In the house of Mr W Osborne, Pollen Street, Thames

12/2989

Edwin Ford (Father)

1 May 1912

C D Romney, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

No	17
Date of Notice	1 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Howard Osborne	Daisy Ford
	💍 1912/3189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Waitress
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	15 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr W Osborne, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	12/2989
Consent	Edwin Ford (Father)
Date of Certificate	1 May 1912
Officiating Minister	C D Romney, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

9 May 1912

James Wilson
Alice Gibson

James Wilson
Alice Gibson
💍 1912/2246

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

32
28

Thames
Kopu, Thames

32 years
28 years

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

12/2035

9 May 1912

William H Potts, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	9 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wilson	Alice Gibson
	💍 1912/2246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Kopu, Thames
Length of Residence	32 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	12/2035
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1912
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, Registrar

13 May 1912

Alexander Meyer Scott
Miriam Florence Watts Rolton

Alexander Meyers Scott
Mirriam Florence Watts Rolton
💍 1912/2247

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic duties

24
14

Thames
Thames

4 days
6 months

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

12/2036

James Samuel Watts Rolton (Father)

13 May 1912

William H Potts, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	13 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Meyer Scott	Miriam Florence Watts Rolton
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Meyers Scott	Mirriam Florence Watts Rolton
	💍 1912/2247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	24	14
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	12/2036
Consent	James Samuel Watts Rolton (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 May 1912
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, Registrar

20 May 1912

Albert Randall Poole
Gladys Fisher

Albert Randall Poole
Gladys Fisher
💍 1912/3518

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Wharf Department
Domestic duties

26
24

Thames
Thames

2 days
1 week

Presbyterian Church, Tararu, Thames

12/3179

22 May 1912

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	20 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Randall Poole	Gladys Fisher
	💍 1912/3518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Wharf Department	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tararu, Thames
Folio	12/3179
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

25 May 1912

Lewis Morgan Haywdra
Hazel Aileen Willetts

Lewis Morgan Hayward
Hazel Aileen Adel Willetts
💍 1912/3526

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
20

Thames
Thames

21 years
20 years

In the house of Mr J Willetts, Richmond St, Thames

12/3181

James Willetts (Father)

25 May 1912

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	25 May 1912
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Morgan Haywdra	Hazel Aileen Willetts
BDM Match (85%)	Lewis Morgan Hayward	Hazel Aileen Adel Willetts
	💍 1912/3526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J Willetts, Richmond St, Thames
Folio	12/3181
Consent	James Willetts (Father)
Date of Certificate	25 May 1912
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

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).