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 735

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar A. H. Cutler

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

9 October 1916

Charles John Francis
Isabell May Simpson

Charles John Francis
Isabella May Simpson
💍 1916/2502

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

29
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

Two years
Five years

Residence of Mr John Simpson Whaka Road Rotorua

7393

9 October 1916

Rev. David Hird Presbyterian Minister

No	33
Date of Notice	9 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John Francis	Isabell May Simpson
BDM Match (98%)	Charles John Francis	Isabella May Simpson
	💍 1916/2502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	Two years	Five years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr John Simpson Whaka Road Rotorua
Folio	7393
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Hird Presbyterian Minister

11 October 1916

Leonard Alfred Wallace Henderson
Ivy May Hancock

Leonard Alfred Wallace Henderson
Ivy May Hancock
💍 1916/2503

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Waitress

23
19

Rotorua
Rotorua

15 years
9 months

Residence of Mr George Wallace Henderson Pukaki Street Rotorua

7394

Freda Hancock, Mother

11 October 1916

Rev. David Hird Presbyterian Minister

No	34
Date of Notice	11 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Alfred Wallace Henderson	Ivy May Hancock
	💍 1916/2503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Waitress
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	15 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr George Wallace Henderson Pukaki Street Rotorua
Folio	7394
Consent	Freda Hancock, Mother
Date of Certificate	11 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. David Hird Presbyterian Minister

7 November 1916

Taki Tureiti Ihaka
Adelaide Douglas

Taki Tureiti Ihaka
Adelaide Douglas
💍 1916/2504

Bachelor
Spinster

Harbour employee
Household duties

18
23

Tuakau
Rotorua

4 months
20 years

Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua

7395

Consent furnished to Registrar Pukekohe Ngapepa Ihaka, Mother.

7 November 1916

Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriage Rotorua

No	35
Date of Notice	7 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Taki Tureiti Ihaka	Adelaide Douglas
	💍 1916/2504
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Harbour employee	Household duties
Age	18	23
Dwelling Place	Tuakau	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	7395
Consent	Consent furnished to Registrar Pukekohe Ngapepa Ihaka, Mother.
Date of Certificate	7 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriage Rotorua

7 November 1916

William Charles Rowe
Mary Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson

William Charles Rowe
Mary Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson
💍 1916/2505

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Housekeeper

36
42

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 years
3 years

Dwelling of Robert Kempster Haupapa Street Rotorua

7396

7 November 1916

Rev Harold Theodore Peat Methodist Minister

No	36
Date of Notice	7 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Rowe	Mary Ann Elizabeth Wilkinson
	💍 1916/2505
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Housekeeper
Age	36	42
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Kempster Haupapa Street Rotorua
Folio	7396
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Harold Theodore Peat Methodist Minister

10 November 1916

John Douglas
Adeline Honeycombe

John Douglas
Adeline Honeycombe
💍 1916/2506

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

20
24

Kaharoa
Kaharoa

20 years
1 year 9 months

Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua

7397

Edward Rangi Douglas Father

10 November 1916

Registrar of Marriages Rotorua

No	37
Date of Notice	10 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Douglas	Adeline Honeycombe
	💍 1916/2506
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	20	24
Dwelling Place	Kaharoa	Kaharoa
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year 9 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	7397
Consent	Edward Rangi Douglas Father
Date of Certificate	10 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Rotorua

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).