Intentions to Marry, 1916 Helensville to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840464, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1916 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.

1916b contains pages 419-930, covering districts from Helensville to Whangaroa

Page 826

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar Wm H. Potts

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

4 November 1916

Alexander McLean
Nora Ellen Larsen

Alexander McLean
Nora Ellen Larsen
💍 1916/1048

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

26
20

Thames
Thames

26 years
2 years

In the Church of England Parawai Thames

7434

Soren Larsen (Father)

4 November 1916

Rev A J Beck Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	4 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McLean	Nora Ellen Larsen
	💍 1916/1048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Parawai Thames
Folio	7434
Consent	Soren Larsen (Father)
Date of Certificate	4 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck Church of England

6 November 1916

Alfred James Gordon
Lizzie Fallon

Alfred James Yordon
Lizzie Fallon
💍 1916/2135

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
Dressmaker

25
24

Thames
Thames

4 days
24 years

St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames

7430

6 November 1916

Rev I J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	58
Date of Notice	6 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Gordon	Lizzie Fallon
BDM Match (97%)	Alfred James Yordon	Lizzie Fallon
	💍 1916/2135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Dressmaker
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Roman Catholic Church Thames
Folio	7430
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev I J Dignan Roman Catholic

6 November 1916

John Arthur Brunton
Esther Clark

John Arthur Brunton
Esther Clark
💍 1916/1041

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
19

Omahu
Omahu

12 years
13 years

In the house of Mr G W Clark Omahu

7433

George William Clark (Father)

6 November 1916

Rev A J Beck Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	6 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Arthur Brunton	Esther Clark
	💍 1916/1041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	19
Dwelling Place	Omahu	Omahu
Length of Residence	12 years	13 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G W Clark Omahu
Folio	7433
Consent	George William Clark (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck Church of England

11 November 1916

Harry Snowling
Florence Muriel Cooper

Harry Snowling
Florence Muriel Cooper
💍 1916/2132

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

31
19

Thames
Matatoki

31 years
19 years

In the Matatoki Hall Matatoki

7427

Thomas Alexander Cooper (Father)

11 November 1916

Rev S J Serpell Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	11 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Snowling	Florence Muriel Cooper
	💍 1916/2132
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Matatoki
Length of Residence	31 years	19 years
Marriage Place	In the Matatoki Hall Matatoki
Folio	7427
Consent	Thomas Alexander Cooper (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev S J Serpell Methodist

13 November 1916

Frank Pearce Davis
Rosina Notzli

Frank Pearce Davies
Rosina Notzli
💍 1916/2134

Widower August 1916
Widow December 1914

Farmer
Domestic duties

53
43

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

7429

13 November 1916

Wm H. Potts Registrar

No	61
Date of Notice	13 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Pearce Davis	Rosina Notzli
BDM Match (97%)	Frank Pearce Davies	Rosina Notzli
	💍 1916/2134
Condition	Widower August 1916	Widow December 1914
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	53	43
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	7429
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Wm H. Potts Registrar

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).