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 839

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar George William Woods

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

12 October 1915

Robert Sims
Mary Ellen Quinn

Robert Sims
Mary Ellen Quinn
💍 1915/6343

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

30
26

Manunui
Manunui

2 weeks
1 week

Registry Office, Taumarunui

15/8699

12 October 1915

George William Woods, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	12 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Sims	Mary Ellen Quinn
	💍 1915/6343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Registry Office, Taumarunui
Folio	15/8699
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 October 1915
Officiating Minister	George William Woods, Registrar

18 October 1915

William McNab
Vera Louise Haybittle

William McNab
Vera Louise Haybittle
💍 1915/6675

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Nurse

39
26

Taumarunui
Feilding

5 months
3 months

St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding

15/9125

18 October 1915

A. S. Innes Jones, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	18 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNab	Vera Louise Haybittle
	💍 1915/6675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Nurse
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Feilding
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St Johns Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	15/9125
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1915
Officiating Minister	A. S. Innes Jones, Church of England

4 November 1915

Arthur Cyril Nicholson
Margaret Deborah Crummin

Arthur Cyril Nicholson
Margaret Deborah Crimmin
💍 1915/37

Bachelor
Spinster

Yardman
Tailoress

23
24

Manunui
Manunui

3 weeks
7 days

Roman Catholic Church, Taumarunui

15/8702

4 November 1915

Cornelius Jansen, Roman Catholic Church

No	28
Date of Notice	4 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cyril Nicholson	Margaret Deborah Crummin
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Cyril Nicholson	Margaret Deborah Crimmin
	💍 1915/37
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Yardman	Tailoress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	3 weeks	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Taumarunui
Folio	15/8702
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Cornelius Jansen, Roman Catholic Church

25 November 1915

James Walter Llewellyn White
Grace Margaret Gardner

James Walter Lewellyn White
Grace Margaret Gardner
💍 1915/6362

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Household Duties

30
20

Manunui
Hukapapa

7 years
6 years

Residence of David Gardner, Hukapapa

15/8661

David Gardner, Father

25 November 1915

J. J. Monfries, Presbyterian Church

No	29
Date of Notice	25 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Walter Llewellyn White	Grace Margaret Gardner
BDM Match (98%)	James Walter Lewellyn White	Grace Margaret Gardner
	💍 1915/6362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Household Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Hukapapa
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of David Gardner, Hukapapa
Folio	15/8661
Consent	David Gardner, Father
Date of Certificate	25 November 1915
Officiating Minister	J. J. Monfries, Presbyterian Church

30 November 1915

Taumata Hoera
Ema Potaka

Taumata Hoera
Ema Potaka
💍 1915/6351

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

22
21

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

22 years
6 months

Residence of Turaki Maikuku, Taumarunui Street

15/8703

30 November 1915

J. E. Ward, Presbyterian Church

No	30
Date of Notice	30 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Taumata Hoera	Ema Potaka
	💍 1915/6351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Turaki Maikuku, Taumarunui Street
Folio	15/8703
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 November 1915
Officiating Minister	J. E. Ward, Presbyterian Church

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).