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 817

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar Charles Vernon Roberts

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

9 January 1915

Francis McGowan
Mary Anne Berry

Francis McGowan
Mary Anne Berry
💍 1915/8733

Widower
Widow

Gauger N.Z. Railway
Housekeeper

50
39

Tarukenga
Tarukenga

3 months
3 months

St Michaels Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu

15/836

9 January 1915

P. Schoonhof

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McGowan	Mary Anne Berry
	💍 1915/8733
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Gauger N.Z. Railway	Housekeeper
Age	50	39
Dwelling Place	Tarukenga	Tarukenga
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St Michaels Roman Catholic Church at Ohinemutu
Folio	15/836
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1915
Officiating Minister	P. Schoonhof

20 January 1915

Conway Clemens Alexander Mitchell
Agnes Ellen Purcell

Conway Clemens Alexander Mitchell
Agnes Ellen Purcell
💍 1915/8732

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer's assistant
Dressmaker

28
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 years
22 years

St John's Presbyterian Church Pukuatua Street Rotorua

15/835

20 January 1915

David Hird

No	2
Date of Notice	20 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conway Clemens Alexander Mitchell	Agnes Ellen Purcell
	💍 1915/8732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer's assistant	Dressmaker
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church Pukuatua Street Rotorua
Folio	15/835
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1915
Officiating Minister	David Hird

1 February 1915

Henry John Sneddon
Alice McCormick

Henry John Sneddon
Alice McCormick
💍 1915/7989

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Dressmaker

29
29

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 weeks
9 weeks

Registrar's Office Courthouse at Rotorua

15/1838

1 February 1915

Charles Vernon Roberts

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry John Sneddon	Alice McCormick
	💍 1915/7989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 weeks	9 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Courthouse at Rotorua
Folio	15/1838
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Charles Vernon Roberts

6 February 1915

Albert Mead
Hazel May Emirali

Albert Mead
Hazel May Emirali
💍 1915/7990

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic Duties

23
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua

15/1839

6 February 1915

Charles Vernon Roberts

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Mead	Hazel May Emirali
	💍 1915/7990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	15/1839
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Charles Vernon Roberts

20 February 1915

George Raymond Hall
Agnes Morrison

George Raymond Hall
Agnes Morrison
💍 1915/8731

Bachelor
Spinster

Chainman
Domestic Duties

30
19

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

St John's Presbyterian Church Pukuatua Street Rotorua

15/834

Samuel Morrison, Father

20 February 1915

David Hird

No	5
Date of Notice	20 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Raymond Hall	Agnes Morrison
	💍 1915/8731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chainman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church Pukuatua Street Rotorua
Folio	15/834
Consent	Samuel Morrison, Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1915
Officiating Minister	David Hird

24 February 1915

Harvey McCormick
Hannah Anderson

Harvey McCormick
Hannah Anderson
💍 1915/7991

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

25
19

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 days
7 days

Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua

15/1840

Frances Anderson, Mother

24 February 1915

Charles Vernon Roberts

No	6
Date of Notice	24 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey McCormick	Hannah Anderson
	💍 1915/7991
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	15/1840
Consent	Frances Anderson, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Charles Vernon Roberts

9 March 1915

James Reardon
Claudina Amelia Anderson
formerly Hatfield

James Reardon
Claudina Amelia Anderson
💍 1915/14063

Widower
Widow

Postmaster
Domestic Duties

66
68

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Courthouse Rotorua

15/1841

9 March 1915

Henry Ernest Gilbert (Deputy Registrar)

No	7
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Reardon	Claudina Amelia Anderson formerly Hatfield
	💍 1915/14063
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Postmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	66	68
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	15/1841
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Henry Ernest Gilbert (Deputy Registrar)

18 March 1915

Walter Frank Donnelly
Lilian Greer

Walter Frank Donnelly
Lilian Greer
💍 1915/7993

Bachelor
Spinster

Printer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
4 days

Registrar's office courthouse Rotorua

15/1842

18 March 1915

Charles Vernon Roberts

No	8
Date of Notice	18 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Frank Donnelly	Lilian Greer
	💍 1915/7993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office courthouse Rotorua
Folio	15/1842
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Charles Vernon Roberts

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).