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 787

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar W. Webster

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

20 July 1915

Charles Vincent
Annie Wood

Charles Vincent
Annie Wood
💍 1915/3088

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Ladyshelp

69
45

Pukekawa
Tuakau

6 years
5 years

Residence of Mr J. Cole, Tuakau

15/5173

20 July 1915

Wm Butterworth, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	20 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Vincent	Annie Wood
	💍 1915/3088
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Ladyshelp
Age	69	45
Dwelling Place	Pukekawa	Tuakau
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. Cole, Tuakau
Folio	15/5173
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Wm Butterworth, Presbyterian

26 July 1915

Rowland Wootten
Una Wootten

Rowland Wootten
Una Wootten
💍 1915/3087

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
25

Bombay
Bombay

Lifetime
Lifetime

Residence of Mr Fred Wootten, Bombay

15/5172

26 July 1915

Geo Frost, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	26 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rowland Wootten	Una Wootten
	💍 1915/3087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Bombay	Bombay
Length of Residence	Lifetime	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Fred Wootten, Bombay
Folio	15/5172
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Geo Frost, Methodist

03 September 1915

Francis Martin Rogers
Adelaide Helen Pulleng

Francis Martin Rogers
Adelaide Helen Pulleng
💍 1915/3085

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher of music

30
24

Puni
Pukekohe

30 years
13 years

St Patrick's Church, Pukekohe

15/5171

03 September 1915

J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	03 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Martin Rogers	Adelaide Helen Pulleng
	💍 1915/3085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher of music
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Puni	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	30 years	13 years
Marriage Place	St Patrick's Church, Pukekohe
Folio	15/5171
Consent
Date of Certificate	03 September 1915
Officiating Minister	J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

24 September 1915

Stephen Rowe
Dora Pleydell

Stephen Rowe
Dora Pleydell
💍 1915/3084

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
34

Mauku
Mauku

39 years
5 weeks

Residence of Mr W. G. Pleydell, Patumahoe

15/5170

24 September 1915

J. C. Fussell

No	17
Date of Notice	24 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Rowe	Dora Pleydell
	💍 1915/3084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Mauku	Mauku
Length of Residence	39 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. G. Pleydell, Patumahoe
Folio	15/5170
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1915
Officiating Minister	J. C. Fussell

29 September 1915

Henry James Dilworth Thornton
Ellenor Christina Walker

Henry James Dilworth Thornton
Ellenor Christina Walker
💍 1915/3083

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic duties

27
20

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

27 years
20 years

Church of England, Pukekohe

15/5169

John Walker, father of the bride

29 September 1915

F. B. Dobson

No	18
Date of Notice	29 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Dilworth Thornton	Ellenor Christina Walker
	💍 1915/3083
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukekohe
Folio	15/5169
Consent	John Walker, father of the bride
Date of Certificate	29 September 1915
Officiating Minister	F. B. Dobson

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).