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 838

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 30 September 1915 Registrar Geo. W. Woods

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

19 August 1915

George Henry Wilson
Elizabeth Alice Brown

George Henry Wilson
Elizabeth Alice Brown
💍 1915/3128

Bachelor
Davies Widow

Millhand
Household

39
32

Manunui
Manunui

7 years
1 month

At the residence of the Bridegrooms parents Manunui

15/5190

19 August 1915

Rev J. I. Monfries Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	19 August 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Wilson	Elizabeth Alice Brown
	💍 1915/3128
Condition	Bachelor	Davies Widow
Profession	Millhand	Household
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	7 years	1 month
Marriage Place	At the residence of the Bridegrooms parents Manunui
Folio	15/5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. I. Monfries Presbyterian

3 September 1915

William Gordon Little
Nila Belz

William Gordon Little
Nita Belz
💍 1915/3125

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Household Duties

23
18

Waituhi Taumarunui
Waituhi Taumarunui

18 months
6 years

Office of the Registrar Taumarunui

15/5186

Albert George Belz Father

3 September 1915

Registrar Geo. W. Woods

No	22
Date of Notice	3 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon Little	Nila Belz
BDM Match (94%)	William Gordon Little	Nita Belz
	💍 1915/3125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Household Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Waituhi Taumarunui	Waituhi Taumarunui
Length of Residence	18 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Taumarunui
Folio	15/5186
Consent	Albert George Belz Father
Date of Certificate	3 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Registrar Geo. W. Woods

14 September 1915

Stanley Clifford Cornes
Esther Williams

Stanley Clifford Cornes
Esther Williams
💍 1915/3127

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
31

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Manse Taumarunui

15/5189

14 September 1915

Rev J. E. Ward Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	14 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Clifford Cornes	Esther Williams
	💍 1915/3127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	31
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Taumarunui
Folio	15/5189
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. E. Ward Presbyterian

21 September 1915

Andrew Griffiths
Gertrude Pearl Trengrove

Andrew Griffiths
Gertrude Pearl Trengrove
💍 1915/3148

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household Duties

29
19

Manunui
Manunui

7 months
8 years

Residence of Charles Alexander Trengrove Manunui

15/5185

Charles Alexander Trengrove Father

21 September 1915

Rev J. E. Ward Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	21 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Griffiths	Gertrude Pearl Trengrove
	💍 1915/3148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household Duties
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	7 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Charles Alexander Trengrove Manunui
Folio	15/5185
Consent	Charles Alexander Trengrove Father
Date of Certificate	21 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev J. E. Ward Presbyterian

23 September 1915

Michael Dunne
Elizabeth Cato

Michael Dunne
Elizabeth Cato
💍 1915/22

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

34
39

Matapuna
Taumarunui

3 months
2 weeks

Roman Catholic Church Taumarunui

15/5188

23 September 1915

Rev Cornelius Jansen Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	23 September 1915
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Dunne	Elizabeth Cato
	💍 1915/22
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	34	39
Dwelling Place	Matapuna	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 months	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Taumarunui
Folio	15/5188
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1915
Officiating Minister	Rev Cornelius Jansen Catholic

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).