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 1005

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar J. Bira

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

27/15

2 July 1915

William Rilla Heke
Anna Gebay Rudolph

William Rika Heke
Anna May Tangiwharu Rudolph
💍 1915/14645

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

20
16

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

5256

Maria Josephine Hope Rudolph, Mother

2 July 1915

J. Bira, Registrar

No	27/15
Date of Notice	2 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rilla Heke	Anna Gebay Rudolph
BDM Match (70%)	William Rika Heke	Anna May Tangiwharu Rudolph
	💍 1915/14645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	5256
Consent	Maria Josephine Hope Rudolph, Mother
Date of Certificate	2 July 1915
Officiating Minister	J. Bira, Registrar

28/15

6 July 1915

Richard Alfred Burton Beasle
Bertha Florana Rowley

Richard Alfred Buston Drake
Bertha Florence Rowley
💍 1915/14634

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

35
21

Kamo
Kamo

3 days
21 years

Church of England, Kamo

5269

6 July 1915

Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

No	28/15
Date of Notice	6 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Alfred Burton Beasle	Bertha Florana Rowley
BDM Match (84%)	Richard Alfred Buston Drake	Bertha Florence Rowley
	💍 1915/14634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	21
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kamo
Folio	5269
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

29/15

7 July 1915

Gordon Eder Vaile
Bertha Smedley

Gordon Eden Vaile
Bertha Smedley
💍 1915/14648

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
2 years

Church of England, Whangarei

5259

Edwin James Smedley, Father

7 July 1915

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England Minister

No	29/15
Date of Notice	7 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Eder Vaile	Bertha Smedley
BDM Match (97%)	Gordon Eden Vaile	Bertha Smedley
	💍 1915/14648
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	5259
Consent	Edwin James Smedley, Father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England Minister

30/15

8 July 1915

Claude Pures Drummond
Edith Lillian Shirley

Claude Peers Drummond
Edith Lillian Dickey
💍 1915/14633

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

25
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

5268

8 July 1915

Rev. Wm Day, Presbyterian Minister

No	30/15
Date of Notice	8 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Pures Drummond	Edith Lillian Shirley
BDM Match (83%)	Claude Peers Drummond	Edith Lillian Dickey
	💍 1915/14633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	5268
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Day, Presbyterian Minister

31/15

12 July 1915

Roy Wilfred Lord
Ada Evelyn Snell Tremaine

Roy Wilfred Lord
Alicia Evelyn Snell Tremaine
💍 1915/14630

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
30

Whangarei
Ruatangata

4 days
30 years

Residence of G. Tremaine, Ruatangata

5265

12 July 1915

Rev. Connelly, Church of England Minister

No	31/15
Date of Notice	12 July 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Wilfred Lord	Ada Evelyn Snell Tremaine
BDM Match (93%)	Roy Wilfred Lord	Alicia Evelyn Snell Tremaine
	💍 1915/14630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	4 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Tremaine, Ruatangata
Folio	5265
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Connelly, Church of England Minister

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).