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 905

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1915 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

2 January 1915

Jack Warren Dodrell
Lilian Roberts

Jack Warren Doddrell
Lilian Roberts
💍 1915/8750

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

21
24

Thames
Thames

2 years
2 1/2 years

In the house of Mrs J Roberts Edward Street Thames

881

2 January 1915

Chas Waterhouse Church of Christ

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Warren Dodrell	Lilian Roberts
BDM Match (98%)	Jack Warren Doddrell	Lilian Roberts
	💍 1915/8750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J Roberts Edward Street Thames
Folio	881
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1915
Officiating Minister	Chas Waterhouse Church of Christ

28 January 1915

Norman George Frost
Leonora Mary Bailey

Norman George Frost
Leonora Mary Bailey
💍 1915/8748

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Housemaid

25
21

Puriri
Puriri

2 years
10 years

In the house of Johnson Bailey Puriri

879

28 January 1915

H. C. Orchard Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	28 January 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman George Frost	Leonora Mary Bailey
	💍 1915/8748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Housemaid
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Johnson Bailey Puriri
Folio	879
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1915
Officiating Minister	H. C. Orchard Methodist

1 February 1915

George Albert Hinder
Edith Evelyn Bailey

George Albert Winder
Edith Evelyn Bailey
💍 1915/8749

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
17

Hikutaia
Puriri

21 years
17 years

In the house of Mr J H Bailey Puriri

880

Johnson Henry Bailey (father)

1 February 1915

H. C. Orchard Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	1 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Hinder	Edith Evelyn Bailey
BDM Match (98%)	George Albert Winder	Edith Evelyn Bailey
	💍 1915/8749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Puriri
Length of Residence	21 years	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J H Bailey Puriri
Folio	880
Consent	Johnson Henry Bailey (father)
Date of Certificate	1 February 1915
Officiating Minister	H. C. Orchard Methodist

6 February 1915

George Albert Sherman
Eva May Campbell

George Albert Sherman
Eva May Campbell
💍 1915/8747

Bachelor
Spinster

Cadet Post Office
Domestic duties

23
17

Thames
Thames

5 months
17 years

In the house of Mr A Campbell Karaka Road Thames

878

Alexander Campbell (father)

6 February 1915

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Albert Sherman	Eva May Campbell
	💍 1915/8747
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cadet Post Office	Domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 months	17 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr A Campbell Karaka Road Thames
Folio	878
Consent	Alexander Campbell (father)
Date of Certificate	6 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne Presbyterian

15 February 1915

Charles Clare Beach
Mary Savage

Charles Clare Beach
Mary Savage
💍 1915/8744

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Waitress

28
17

Hikutaia
Thames

3 years
4 months

In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St Thames

876

Janet Lennan (mother)

15 February 1915

Rev J J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Clare Beach	Mary Savage
	💍 1915/8744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Waitress
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	4 months
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St Thames
Folio	876
Consent	Janet Lennan (mother)
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J J Dignan Roman Catholic

16 February 1915

Tukuha Te Riini
Hareta Te Hihi

Tukiwaho Te Riini
Atareta Te Hiki
💍 1915/8746

Bachelor
Spinster

Settler
Domestic duties

36
30

Thames
Thames

4 months
30 years

In the Registrars Office Mary Street Thames

877

16 February 1915

William H Potts Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	16 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tukuha Te Riini	Hareta Te Hihi
BDM Match (78%)	Tukiwaho Te Riini	Atareta Te Hiki
	💍 1915/8746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Settler	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	30 years
Marriage Place	In the Registrars Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	877
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1915
Officiating Minister	William H Potts Registrar

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).