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 653

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar G. Stephenson

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

10 April 1916

Hubert Frank Webster
Hilda Becher

Hubert Frank Webster
Hilda Becher
💍 1916/6090

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank manager
School Teacher

43
43

Opotiki
Tauranga

2 months
7 days

Presbyterian Church, Tauranga

3554

10 April 1916

Rev Alexander Carrick Wedderspoon

No	5
Date of Notice	10 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Frank Webster	Hilda Becher
	💍 1916/6090
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank manager	School Teacher
Age	43	43
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Tauranga
Length of Residence	2 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tauranga
Folio	3554
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Alexander Carrick Wedderspoon

11 April 1916

Vernon Winfield Linkhorn
Kate Ranapia

Vernon Winfield Linkhorn
Kate Ranapia
💍 1916/12249

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 months
21 years

at the residence of the brides Father Opotiki

3516

11 April 1916

Rev Robert Francis

No	6
Date of Notice	11 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Winfield Linkhorn	Kate Ranapia
	💍 1916/12249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 months	21 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of the brides Father Opotiki
Folio	3516
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Francis

20 April 1916

Taumata Puha
Hariata Winitaia

Taumata Puha
Hariata Winitana
💍 1916/6147

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
22

Raukokore
Raukokore

since birth
since birth

at the Office of the Registrar Opotiki

3509

20 April 1916

G. Stephenson Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	20 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Taumata Puha	Hariata Winitaia
BDM Match (97%)	Taumata Puha	Hariata Winitana
	💍 1916/6147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Raukokore	Raukokore
Length of Residence	since birth	since birth
Marriage Place	at the Office of the Registrar Opotiki
Folio	3509
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1916
Officiating Minister	G. Stephenson Registrar

25 April 1916

Edward John Brown
Eileen Apaniu

Edward John Brown
Eileen Apanui
💍 1916/6131

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
24

Opotiki
Opotiki

3 years
since birth

at the Presbyterian Manse Opotiki

3517

25 April 1916

Rev Robert Francis

No	8
Date of Notice	25 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Brown	Eileen Apaniu
BDM Match (92%)	Edward John Brown	Eileen Apanui
	💍 1916/6131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	3 years	since birth
Marriage Place	at the Presbyterian Manse Opotiki
Folio	3517
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Robert Francis

12 May 1916

Robert Oswald Ingram
Winifred Bertha Parkinson

Robert Oswald Ingram
Winifred Bertha Parkinson
💍 1916/6129

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Tailoress

27
26

Opotiki
Opotiki

9 years
26 years

at the residence of Mr J. P. Parkinson Opotiki

3515

12 May 1916

Rev Thomas Fisher

No	9
Date of Notice	12 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Oswald Ingram	Winifred Bertha Parkinson
	💍 1916/6129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Tailoress
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	9 years	26 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr J. P. Parkinson Opotiki
Folio	3515
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Fisher

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).