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 745

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 31 March 1916 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

5 January 1916

George McGivern Mudgway
Mary Whitiki

George McGivern Mudgway
Mary Whitiki
💍 1916/3256

Divorced
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic Duties

35
25

Piriaka
Piriaka

9 years
11 years

Residence of Mr Richard Jones Piriaka

139

5 January 1916

J. E. Ward Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George McGivern Mudgway	Mary Whitiki
	💍 1916/3256
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic Duties
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Piriaka	Piriaka
Length of Residence	9 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Richard Jones Piriaka
Folio	139
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1916
Officiating Minister	J. E. Ward Presbyterian

7 January 1916

Leslie Bernard Mills
Rebecca Selina Jones

Lester Bernard Mills
Rebecca Selina Jones
💍 1916/3255

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
18

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

7 days
6 years

Residence of Mr Richard Jones Piriaka

198

Richard Jones Father

7 January 1916

J. E. Ward Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Bernard Mills	Rebecca Selina Jones
BDM Match (93%)	Lester Bernard Mills	Rebecca Selina Jones
	💍 1916/3255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	7 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Richard Jones Piriaka
Folio	198
Consent	Richard Jones Father
Date of Certificate	7 January 1916
Officiating Minister	J. E. Ward Presbyterian

12 January 1916

Malcolm Harney
Ethel Constance Gray

Malcolm Larney
Ethel Constance Gray
💍 1916/3257

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
27

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

4 days
1 year

Registrar's office Taumarunui

200

12 January 1916

G. W. Woods Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Malcolm Harney	Ethel Constance Gray
BDM Match (96%)	Malcolm Larney	Ethel Constance Gray
	💍 1916/3257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	4 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Taumarunui
Folio	200
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1916
Officiating Minister	G. W. Woods Registrar

15 February 1916

Alexander Wilson Bess
Hilda May Lincoln

Alexander Wilson Begg
Hilda May Lincoln
💍 1916/3254

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic Servant

25
19

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

3 days
8 years

Residence of Francis Henry George Lincoln Taumarunui

197

Francis Henry George Lincoln Father

15 February 1916

J. E. Ward Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wilson Bess	Hilda May Lincoln
BDM Match (95%)	Alexander Wilson Begg	Hilda May Lincoln
	💍 1916/3254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Servant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Francis Henry George Lincoln Taumarunui
Folio	197
Consent	Francis Henry George Lincoln Father
Date of Certificate	15 February 1916
Officiating Minister	J. E. Ward Presbyterian

22 February 1916

Harvey Charles Magill
Eva Emmeline Phelan

Harvey Charles Magill
Eva Emmeline Phelan
💍 1916/8912

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Household Duties

22
17

Manunui
Manunui

2 years
7 years

Church of England Taumarunui

1091

Alfred Ernest Phelan Father

22 February 1916

J. A. Kempthorne Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	22 February 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harvey Charles Magill	Eva Emmeline Phelan
	💍 1916/8912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Household Duties
Age	22	17
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Taumarunui
Folio	1091
Consent	Alfred Ernest Phelan Father
Date of Certificate	22 February 1916
Officiating Minister	J. A. Kempthorne Church of England

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).