Intentions to Marry, 1915 Helensville to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840458, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1915 is bound in six volumes (a to f) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1915b contains pages 519-1020, covering districts from Helensville to Whangaroa

Page 749

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar G. Stephenson

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

13 October 1915

Thomas Francis Guy
Jean Robinson Mathers

Thomas Francis Guy
Jean Robinson Mathers
💍 1915/7121

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

28
22

Opotiki
Opotiki

10 months
10 months

at the office of the Registrar Opotiki

8634

13 October 1915

G. Stephenson Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	13 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Francis Guy	Jean Robinson Mathers
	💍 1915/7121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	10 months	10 months
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar Opotiki
Folio	8634
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1915
Officiating Minister	G. Stephenson Registrar

8 November 1915

Dominic Lee
Alice How Chow

Dominic Lee
Alice How Chow
💍 1915/7122

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

37
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

12 years
2 years

at the office of the Registrar Opotiki

8635

8 November 1915

G. Stephenson Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dominic Lee	Alice How Chow
	💍 1915/7122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	37	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	at the office of the Registrar Opotiki
Folio	8635
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	G. Stephenson Registrar

15 November 1915

Cyril Everest Crapp
Margaret Mary Hunter Pile

Cyril Everett Crapp
Margaret Mary Hunter Pile
💍 1915/6377

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
School teacher

27
28

Opotiki
Opotiki

1 week
28 years

St- Marys Roman Catholic Church Opotiki

8653

15 November 1915

Rev J. W. Smiers Roman Catholic Priest

No	11
Date of Notice	15 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Everest Crapp	Margaret Mary Hunter Pile
BDM Match (97%)	Cyril Everett Crapp	Margaret Mary Hunter Pile
	💍 1915/6377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	School teacher
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	1 week	28 years
Marriage Place	St- Marys Roman Catholic Church Opotiki
Folio	8653
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. W. Smiers Roman Catholic Priest

22 November 1915

Charles Burgess
Maud Edna Burton

Charles Burgess
Maud Edna Burton
💍 1915/6379

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

26
23

Opotiki
Opotiki

16 months
15 years

St- Stephens Church Opotiki

8655

22 November 1915

Rev Thomas Fisher Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	22 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Burgess	Maud Edna Burton
	💍 1915/6379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	16 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St- Stephens Church Opotiki
Folio	8655
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Fisher Church of England

22 November 1915

Edward John Brown
Margaret Marjoribanks

Edward John Brown
Margaret Marjoribank
💍 1915/6378

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
19

Opotiki
Opotiki

30 years
16 years

Methodist Church Opotiki

8654

Robert Craig Marjoribanks Father

22 November 1915

Rev Percy Battey Methodist Church

No	13
Date of Notice	22 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Brown	Margaret Marjoribanks
BDM Match (98%)	Edward John Brown	Margaret Marjoribank
	💍 1915/6378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	30 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Opotiki
Folio	8654
Consent	Robert Craig Marjoribanks Father
Date of Certificate	22 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Percy Battey Methodist Church

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).