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 1003

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 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

17/15

5 April 1915

Herbert Charles Mutton
Hilda May Lovatt

Herbert Charles Mutton
Hilda May Lovatt
💍 1915/10480

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Bookkeeper

27
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
14 years

Baptist Tabernacle, Whangarei

3337

5 April 1915

Rev H. J. Farmer, Baptist

No	17/15
Date of Notice	5 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Charles Mutton	Hilda May Lovatt
	💍 1915/10480
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Bookkeeper
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Tabernacle, Whangarei
Folio	3337
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev H. J. Farmer, Baptist

18/15

7 April 1915

David Edmond Dolphin
Rosa May Hill

David Edmond Dolphin
Rosa May Hill
💍 1915/1463

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic

24
27

Kaeo
Auckland

5 days
5 days

Registrar's office Whangarei

3330

7 April 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	18/15
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Edmond Dolphin	Rosa May Hill
	💍 1915/1463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Kaeo	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Whangarei
Folio	3330
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

19/15

7 April 1915

William Samuel Beehre
Lena Catherine Johnson

William Samuel Beehre
Lena Catherine Johnston
💍 1915/1447

Bachelor
Spinster

General Carrier
Domestic

26
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

26 years 3 months
21 years 3 months

Church of England Whangarei

3338

7 April 1915

Rev G. A. Johnson, Church of England

No	19/15
Date of Notice	7 April 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Samuel Beehre	Lena Catherine Johnson
BDM Match (98%)	William Samuel Beehre	Lena Catherine Johnston
	💍 1915/1447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	General Carrier	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	26 years 3 months	21 years 3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	3338
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev G. A. Johnson, Church of England

20/15

10 May 1915

William Haora
Gertrude Lemon

William Haora
Gertrude Lemon
💍 1915/1444

Bachelor
Widow

Engineer
Domestic

26
34

Tamaterau
Tamaterau

26 years
34 years

Residence of Mrs Haora, Tamaterau

3335

10 May 1915

Rev G. A. Johnson, Church of England

No	20/15
Date of Notice	10 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Haora	Gertrude Lemon
	💍 1915/1444
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	Tamaterau	Tamaterau
Length of Residence	26 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Haora, Tamaterau
Folio	3335
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev G. A. Johnson, Church of England

21/15

18 May 1915

Murdoch Neil Ferguson
Elizabeth Jane Clemo

Murdoch Neil Ferguson
Elizabeth Jane Clemo
💍 1915/1307

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

27
23

Kiripaka
Kiripaka

9 months
23 years

Residence of W. Life, 2nd Avenue Whangarei

3197

18 May 1915

Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

No	21/15
Date of Notice	18 May 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch Neil Ferguson	Elizabeth Jane Clemo
	💍 1915/1307
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Kiripaka	Kiripaka
Length of Residence	9 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Life, 2nd Avenue Whangarei
Folio	3197
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

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).