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 571

District of Kaitaia Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar H. A. Munn

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

171

2 July 1915

Thomas Henry Fletcher
Elsie Mildred Kitchen

Thomas Henry Fletcher
Elsie Mildred Kitchen
💍 1915/2959

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
18

Fairburn
Victoria Valley

5 years
18 years

Private Residence George Kitchen Victoria Valley

5143

George Kitchen, father

2 July 1915

Wilfred Bowden

No	171
Date of Notice	2 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Fletcher	Elsie Mildred Kitchen
	💍 1915/2959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Fairburn	Victoria Valley
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence George Kitchen Victoria Valley
Folio	5143
Consent	George Kitchen, father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Wilfred Bowden

172

19 July 1915

Edwin Thomas William Smith
Lillian Francis Metcalf

Edwin Thomas William Smith
Lillian Francis Metcalf
💍 1915/2954

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic servant

32
27

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

3 days
3 days

Registrars office Kaitaia

5138

19 July 1915

L. C. Matthew, Registrar

No	172
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Thomas William Smith	Lillian Francis Metcalf
	💍 1915/2954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic servant
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars office Kaitaia
Folio	5138
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	L. C. Matthew, Registrar

173

21 July 1915

Ernest Charles Buckingham
Jessie Irene Kitchen

Ernest Charles Buckingham
Jessie Irene Kitchan
💍 1915/2955

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
22

Victoria Valley
Victoria Valley

30 years
21 years

Private Residence Edward Kitchen Victoria Valley

5139

21 July 1915

W. Bowden

No	173
Date of Notice	21 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Buckingham	Jessie Irene Kitchen
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Charles Buckingham	Jessie Irene Kitchan
	💍 1915/2955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Victoria Valley	Victoria Valley
Length of Residence	30 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence Edward Kitchen Victoria Valley
Folio	5139
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1915
Officiating Minister	W. Bowden

174

24 July 1915

Albert Edward McMahon
Gertrude Mabel Smith

Albert Edward McMahon
Gertrude Mabel Smith
💍 1915/54

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

25
25

Awanui
Awanui

3 months
25 years

Church Awanui

2166 / 1916

24 July 1915

Tiopira Paerata

No	174
Date of Notice	24 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward McMahon	Gertrude Mabel Smith
	💍 1915/54
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Awanui	Awanui
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Church Awanui
Folio	2166 / 1916
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Tiopira Paerata

175

4 August 1915

Rowland Spanhake
Florence Emily Blake

Rowland Spanhake
Florence Emily Blake
💍 1915/2952

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
22

Mangatete
Mangatete

34 years
6 months

Registrars office Kaitaia

5136

4 August 1915

Registrar marriages

No	175
Date of Notice	4 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rowland Spanhake	Florence Emily Blake
	💍 1915/2952
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Mangatete	Mangatete
Length of Residence	34 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office Kaitaia
Folio	5136
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar marriages

176

6 September 1915

Walter William Kaipo
Kahu Robson

William Walter Kaipo
Kahn Robson
💍 1915/2953

Bachelor
Spinster

Volunteer Expeditionary Force
Postmistress

24
18

Pukepoto
Pukepoto

24 years
18 years

Registrars office Kaitaia

5137

Herbert Robson, father

6 September 1915

Registrar

No	176
Date of Notice	6 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Kaipo	Kahu Robson
BDM Match (70%)	William Walter Kaipo	Kahn Robson
	💍 1915/2953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Volunteer Expeditionary Force	Postmistress
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Pukepoto	Pukepoto
Length of Residence	24 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Kaitaia
Folio	5137
Consent	Herbert Robson, father
Date of Certificate	6 September 1915
Officiating Minister	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).