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 1009

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1915 Registrar J. P. Rice

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

43/15

01 October 1915

Ralph Newman
Edith Ethel Mabel Clotworthy

Ralph Newman
Edyth Mabel Clotworthy
💍 1915/6468

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

35
28

Wellington
Maungakaramea

3 years
20 years

Residence of F. Clotworthy, Kiripaka

8822

01 October 1915

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	43/15
Date of Notice	01 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Newman	Edith Ethel Mabel Clotworthy
BDM Match (88%)	Ralph Newman	Edyth Mabel Clotworthy
	💍 1915/6468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Maungakaramea
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Clotworthy, Kiripaka
Folio	8822
Consent
Date of Certificate	01 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

44/15

02 October 1915

Edwin Webb
Amelia Mary Gavin

Edwin Webb
Amelia Mary Gavin
💍 1915/6445

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

14 years
3 months

Residence of Mr. Gavin, Otaika

8823

02 October 1915

Rev. Father McDonald, Catholic

No	44/15
Date of Notice	02 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Webb	Amelia Mary Gavin
	💍 1915/6445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	14 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Gavin, Otaika
Folio	8823
Consent
Date of Certificate	02 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Catholic

45/15

04 October 1915

William Alfred Cole
Margaret Florence Rosina Marshall

William Alfred Cole
Margaret Florence Rosina Marshall
💍 1915/6444

Bachelor
Divorced

Carter
Domestic

26
30

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 weeks
5 weeks

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

8813

04 October 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	45/15
Date of Notice	04 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Cole	Margaret Florence Rosina Marshall
	💍 1915/6444
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	8813
Consent
Date of Certificate	04 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

46/15

13 October 1915

Francis Alexander McKoy
Hulda Matilda Lohmann

Francis Alexander Mikoz
Hilda Matilda Lohmann
💍 1915/6455

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
33

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

8814

13 October 1915

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	46/15
Date of Notice	13 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Alexander McKoy	Hulda Matilda Lohmann
BDM Match (91%)	Francis Alexander Mikoz	Hilda Matilda Lohmann
	💍 1915/6455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	8814
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

47/15

13 October 1915

George Jackson
Edith Heathwaite

George Jackson
Emma Heathwaite
💍 1915/6383

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

23
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei

8809

13 October 1915

Rev. Wm Day, Presbyterian

No	47/15
Date of Notice	13 October 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Jackson	Edith Heathwaite
BDM Match (88%)	George Jackson	Emma Heathwaite
	💍 1915/6383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei
Folio	8809
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Day, Presbyterian

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).