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 873

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar John Hollywood

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

13 July 1915

Edward James Best
Evelyn Marion Walker

Edward James Best
Evelyn Marion Walker
💍 1915/3061

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic Duties

28
16

Mangaiti
Te Aroha

2 years
6 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

5204

Frederick Walker, Father

13 July 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	13 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward James Best	Evelyn Marion Walker
	💍 1915/3061
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic Duties
Age	28	16
Dwelling Place	Mangaiti	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	5204
Consent	Frederick Walker, Father
Date of Certificate	13 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

17 July 1915

Edward Charles Old
Beatrice Elizabeth Milner

Edward Charles Old
Beatrice Elizabeth Millner
💍 1915/3070

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Spinster

28
29

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 years
2 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

5207

17 July 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	17 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Charles Old	Beatrice Elizabeth Milner
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Charles Old	Beatrice Elizabeth Millner
	💍 1915/3070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Spinster
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	5207
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

19 July 1915

Stopford Leslie Boles
Jane Eva Johnson

Stopford Leslie Boles
Jane Eva Johnson
💍 1915/3069

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercer & Clothier
Accountant

27
23

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

8 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

5206

19 July 1915

Rev. W. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	19 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stopford Leslie Boles	Jane Eva Johnson
	💍 1915/3069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercer & Clothier	Accountant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	8 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	5206
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Blundell, Presbyterian

3 August 1915

John Daniel Howard
Dorothy Gwendoline Lower

John Daniel Howard
Dorothy Gwendoline Lower
💍 1915/3068

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
18

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

5 weeks
2 months

Church of England, Te Aroha

5205

Louisa Jane Fry, Mother

3 August 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	3 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Daniel Howard	Dorothy Gwendoline Lower
	💍 1915/3068
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	5 weeks	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	5205
Consent	Louisa Jane Fry, Mother
Date of Certificate	3 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

11 August 1915

Arthur John Monds
Emily Harriet Bygrave

Arthur John Monds
Emily Harriett Bygrave
💍 1915/3050

Bachelor
Spinster

Moulder
Domestic Duties

25
24

Auckland
Te Aroha

25 years
24 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

5203

11 August 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Monds	Emily Harriet Bygrave
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur John Monds	Emily Harriett Bygrave
	💍 1915/3050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Moulder	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	5203
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

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).