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 939

District of Tokatoka Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar I. G. Houbourn

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 July 1915

Abraham Paul
Ethel May Shepherd

Abraham Paul
Ethel May Shepherd
💍 1915/4450

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand
Cook

22
22

Ripia
Ripia

22 years
6 months

Anglican Church, Ripia

15/6676

12 July 1915

F. Latter, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abraham Paul	Ethel May Shepherd
	💍 1915/4450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand	Cook
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Ripia	Ripia
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Ripia
Folio	15/6676
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	F. Latter, Anglican

19 July 1915

Frank Arnerich
Mare Marinkovich

Frank Arnerich
Mare Marinkovich
💍 1915/3156

Bachelor
Spinster

Gumdigger

25
21

Red Hill
Tekopuru

3 years
18 months

Roman Catholic Church, Tekopuru

15/5243

19 July 1915

Rev. J. Zanna, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Arnerich	Mare Marinkovich
	💍 1915/3156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gumdigger
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Red Hill	Tekopuru
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Tekopuru
Folio	15/5243
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Zanna, Roman Catholic

20 July 1915

William Walters
Janie Nganeko Brown

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Aratapu
Naumai

3 years
21 years

Residence of John Brown, Naumai

20 July 1915

Rev. Wiki Te Paa, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	20 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Walters	Janie Nganeko Brown
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Aratapu	Naumai
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Brown, Naumai
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wiki Te Paa, Anglican

30 July 1915

William Alexander Carter
Fanny Montgomery

William Alexander Carter
Fanny Montgomery
💍 1915/3155

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

33
28

Mititai
Mititai

2 years
28 years

Residence of Thomas Montgomery, Mititai

15/5242

30 July 1915

Rev. F. Latter, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	30 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Carter	Fanny Montgomery
	💍 1915/3155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Mititai	Mititai
Length of Residence	2 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Montgomery, Mititai
Folio	15/5242
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter, Anglican

17 August 1915

Walter Dreadon
Daisy Winifred Bigelow

Walter Dreadon
Daisy Winifred Bigelow
💍 1915/3153

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
25

Rehia
Rehia

28 years
4 days

Residence of Charles Dreadon, Rehia

15/5240

17 August 1915

Rev. A. B. Haynes, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	17 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Dreadon	Daisy Winifred Bigelow
	💍 1915/3153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Rehia	Rehia
Length of Residence	28 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Dreadon, Rehia
Folio	15/5240
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Haynes, Methodist

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).