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 779

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar J. Hollywood

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

22 April 1916

Thomas Buckley Baker
Ellen Barbara Hyde

Thomas Buckley Baber
Ellen Barbara Hyde
💍 1916/8557

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Accountant
Domestic Duties

24
20

Napier
Te Aroha

10 years
10 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

3564

Margaret Frances Hyde, Mother

22 April 1916

Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England, Te Aroha

No	8
Date of Notice	22 April 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Buckley Baker	Ellen Barbara Hyde
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Buckley Baber	Ellen Barbara Hyde
	💍 1916/8557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	3564
Consent	Margaret Frances Hyde, Mother
Date of Certificate	22 April 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Edgell, Church of England, Te Aroha

4 May 1916

Owen McKearney
Nora May Toughey

Owen McKearney
Norah May Foughey
💍 1916/5656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household duties

27
24

Gordon
Gordon

3 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha

2828

4 May 1916

Rev. James Mc Guinness, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	4 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen McKearney	Nora May Toughey
BDM Match (94%)	Owen McKearney	Norah May Foughey
	💍 1916/5656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Gordon	Gordon
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha
Folio	2828
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Mc Guinness, Roman Catholic

26 May 1916

Thomas Harold Shannon
Olive Haines

Thomas Harold Shannon
Olive Haines
💍 1916/6120

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

26
21

Te Aroha
Waihi

5 months
10 years

Methodist Church, Te Aroha

3563

26 May 1916

Rev. J. Dukes, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	26 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Harold Shannon	Olive Haines
	💍 1916/6120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Waihi
Length of Residence	5 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Te Aroha
Folio	3563
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Dukes, Methodist

29 May 1916

James Casey
Eileen Dixon

James Casey
Eileen Nixon
💍 1916/11565

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Duties

19
16

Te Aroha
Pokino Valley

4 months
13 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha

2829

Kathleen Mary O'Connor Sister; Edward Charles Dixon Father

29 May 1916

Rev. J. Mc Guinness, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	29 May 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Casey	Eileen Dixon
BDM Match (96%)	James Casey	Eileen Nixon
	💍 1916/11565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Pokino Valley
Length of Residence	4 months	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Aroha
Folio	2829
Consent	Kathleen Mary O'Connor Sister; Edward Charles Dixon Father
Date of Certificate	29 May 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Mc Guinness, Roman Catholic

1 June 1916

Horace Edward Kingett
Dorothy Leaman

Horace Edward Kinzett
Dorothy Leaman
💍 1916/6111

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Manawaru
Manawaru

5 years
12 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

3558

1 June 1916

Rev. G. H. Morse, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	1 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Edward Kingett	Dorothy Leaman
BDM Match (98%)	Horace Edward Kinzett	Dorothy Leaman
	💍 1916/6111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Manawaru	Manawaru
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	3558
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Morse, 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).