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 1007

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar F. 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

37/15

11 August 1915

Arnold Simpson Yates
Elizabeth Arnold

Arnold Simpson Yates
Elizabeth Arnold
💍 1915/2970

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Waitress

23
24

Kamo
Towai

3 years
3 years

Church of England, Towai

15/5130

11 August 1915

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	37/15
Date of Notice	11 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Simpson Yates	Elizabeth Arnold
	💍 1915/2970
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Waitress
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Towai
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Towai
Folio	15/5130
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

38/15

16 August 1915

Albert James Allan
Mary Ethel May Terrace

Albert James Allan
Ethel Mary Terrace
💍 1915/4657

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

25
22

Kamo
Kamo

10 months
21 years

Residence of Mrs. S. Terrace, Kamo

15/6783

16 August 1915

Rev. Pattullo, Presbyterian

No	38/15
Date of Notice	16 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Allan	Mary Ethel May Terrace
BDM Match (86%)	Albert James Allan	Ethel Mary Terrace
	💍 1915/4657
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	10 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. S. Terrace, Kamo
Folio	15/6783
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Pattullo, Presbyterian

39/15

23 August 1915

Arthur Graham
Dora Kathleen Ruth McCready

Arthur Graham
Dora Kathleen Ruth McCready
💍 1915/14646

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
2 1/2 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

15/5257

Hugh Clyde McCready, Father

23 August 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	39/15
Date of Notice	23 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Graham	Dora Kathleen Ruth McCready
	💍 1915/14646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	15/5257
Consent	Hugh Clyde McCready, Father
Date of Certificate	23 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

40/15

7 September 1915

Nelson Lincoln Harrison
Minnie Ward

Wilson Lincoln Harrison
Minnie Ward
💍 1915/14650

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

48
33

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Whangarei

15/5261

7 September 1915

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	40/15
Date of Notice	7 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Lincoln Harrison	Minnie Ward
BDM Match (96%)	Wilson Lincoln Harrison	Minnie Ward
	💍 1915/14650
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	48	33
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	15/5261
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

41/15

14 September 1915

William Strong
Ivy Ada Evans

William Strong
Ivy Ada Evans
💍 1915/14649

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

24
21

Whangarei
Kamo

3 days
7 years

Church of England, Kamo

15/5260

14 September 1915

Rev. Connolly, Church of England

No	41/15
Date of Notice	14 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Strong	Ivy Ada Evans
	💍 1915/14649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kamo
Folio	15/5260
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Connolly, 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).