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 1010

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar Frank Bird

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

27 October 1915

John Hamilton
Eleanor Louisa McDonald

John Hamilton
Eleanor Louisa McDonald
💍 1915/6462

Bachelor
Widow

Driver
Domestic

32
30

Whangarei
Whangarei

7 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Whangarei

8815

27 October 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	27 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton	Eleanor Louisa McDonald
	💍 1915/6462
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Driver	Domestic
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	8815
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

8 November 1915

Motu Haller
Edna Porter

Motu Haller
Edna Porter
💍 1915/11623

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 days
5 days

Registrar's Office Whangarei

8816

No person in N.Z. to give consent Memo.

8 November 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	49
Date of Notice	8 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Motu Haller	Edna Porter
	💍 1915/11623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	8816
Consent	No person in N.Z. to give consent Memo.
Date of Certificate	8 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

9 November 1915

Alexander Fairley
Jessie Ann Fletcher McKenzie

Alexander Fairley
Jessie Ann Fletcher McKenzie
💍 1915/6467

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

25
29

Whangarei
Whangarei

8 years
29 years

Residence of Mrs. John McKenzie Whangarei

8821

9 November 1915

Rev. W. G. Holloway, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	9 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Fairley	Jessie Ann Fletcher McKenzie
	💍 1915/6467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	8 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. John McKenzie Whangarei
Folio	8821
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Holloway, Presbyterian

19 November 1915

Edward Sweeney
Minnie Wardle

Edward Sweeney
Minnie Wardle
💍 1915/6463

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer
Domestic

37
32

Whangarei
Whangarei

1 1/2 years
32 years

Registrar's Office Whangarei

8817

19 November 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	51
Date of Notice	19 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Sweeney	Minnie Wardle
	💍 1915/6463
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	32
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	32 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	8817
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

20 November 1915

James Alexander Archibald
Emily Portsmouth Price

James Alexander Archibald
Emily Portsmouth Paice
💍 1915/6466

Bachelor
Spinster

Drain Pipe Manufacturer
Domestic

50
30

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
1 month

Presbyterian Church Kauri

8820

20 November 1915

Rev. Pattullo, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	20 November 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alexander Archibald	Emily Portsmouth Price
BDM Match (98%)	James Alexander Archibald	Emily Portsmouth Paice
	💍 1915/6466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drain Pipe Manufacturer	Domestic
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Kauri
Folio	8820
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Pattullo, Presbyterian

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).