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 868

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 March 1915 Registrar J. 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

15 February 1915

Walter John Harrod
Maggie Farrow

Walter John Harrod
Maggie Farrow
💍 1915/8745

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Waitoa
Waitoa

6 weeks
25 years

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

15/857

15 February 1915

Rev. J. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	15 February 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Harrod	Maggie Farrow
	💍 1915/8745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Waitoa	Waitoa
Length of Residence	6 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	15/857
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blundell, Presbyterian

2 March 1915

Reginald Herring
Gertrude Willomena Heenan

Reginald Herring
Gertrude Willomena Heenan
💍 1915/7669

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Waitress

26
23

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

2 years
2 years

Private residence of T. A. Dudley, Te Aroha

15/855

2 March 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	2 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Herring	Gertrude Willomena Heenan
	💍 1915/7669
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Waitress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of T. A. Dudley, Te Aroha
Folio	15/855
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

6 March 1915

William Lemon
Gladys May Mary Andrews

William Lemon
Gladys May Mary Andrews
💍 1915/8734

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

35
22

Te Kuiti
Te Kuiti

4 days
4 Days

Church of England, Te Aroha

15/856

6 March 1915

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	6 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lemon	Gladys May Mary Andrews
	💍 1915/8734
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Te Kuiti
Length of Residence	4 days	4 Days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	15/856
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England

9 March 1915

Horace William Blackford
Elsie May West

Horace William Blackford
Elsie May West
💍 1915/7668

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
32

Ngarre
Waihou

4 weeks
18 months

Wesleyan Church, Te Aroha

15/854

9 March 1915

Rev. P. R. Paris, Wesleyan

No	9
Date of Notice	9 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace William Blackford	Elsie May West
	💍 1915/7668
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Ngarre	Waihou
Length of Residence	4 weeks	18 months
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Te Aroha
Folio	15/854
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. R. Paris, Wesleyan

24 March 1915

John Wards
Mary Alice Sarney

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

40
47

Whangamarino
Waihou

2 years
2 years

Private residence of M. A. Sarney, Waihou

15/853

24 March 1915

Rev. J. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	24 March 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wards	Mary Alice Sarney
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	47
Dwelling Place	Whangamarino	Waihou
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of M. A. Sarney, Waihou
Folio	15/853
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Blundell, 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).