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 793

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 December 1916 Registrar J. Stewart

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

3 October 1916

Walter Percival Newton
Florence Sparkes Rickit

Walter Percival Newton
Florence Sparks Ricket
💍 1916/2514

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk

24
21

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

3 days
21 years

Anglican Church, Te Awamutu

7405

3 October 1916

Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	3 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Percival Newton	Florence Sparkes Rickit
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Percival Newton	Florence Sparks Ricket
	💍 1916/2514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	7405
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

30 October 1916

Ngakaho Erica (Eru)
Uia Marerahi

Ngakaho Eru
Uia Marerahi
💍 1916/8621

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Rawhitiroa Korakonui
Rawhitiroa Korakonui

24 years
22 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Te Awamutu

7406

30 October 1916

N. F. Y. Stewart, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	30 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ngakaho Erica (Eru)	Uia Marerahi
BDM Match (79%)	Ngakaho Eru	Uia Marerahi
	💍 1916/8621
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Rawhitiroa Korakonui	Rawhitiroa Korakonui
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Te Awamutu
Folio	7406
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1916
Officiating Minister	N. F. Y. Stewart, Registrar

20 November 1916

Lionel Roberts Wilkinson
Clementina Margaret Alexander

Lionel Roberts Wilkinson
Clementina Margaret Alexander
💍 1916/2513

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer Returned Soldier awaiting discharge

28
20

Pokuru
Mangapiko

3 weeks
20 years

Anglican Church, Te Awamutu

7404

Charles Monrath Alexander, Father

20 November 1916

Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

No	33
Date of Notice	20 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Roberts Wilkinson	Clementina Margaret Alexander
	💍 1916/2513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer Returned Soldier awaiting discharge
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Pokuru	Mangapiko
Length of Residence	3 weeks	20 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	7404
Consent	Charles Monrath Alexander, Father
Date of Certificate	20 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. Greer, Anglican

25 November 1916

Edward McVerry
Louie Annie Scott

Edward McVerry
Louie Annie Scott
💍 1916/2119

Edward Perry
Jessie Scott
💍 1917/1289

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
20

Pokuru
Te Awamutu

6 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Te Awamutu

7407

Nicholas John Scott, Father

25 November 1916

Rev. T. P. Lynch, Roman Catholic

No	34
Date of Notice	25 November 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward McVerry	Louie Annie Scott
	💍 1916/2119
BDM Match (66%)	Edward Perry	Jessie Scott
	💍 1917/1289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	20
Dwelling Place	Pokuru	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	7407
Consent	Nicholas John Scott, Father
Date of Certificate	25 November 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. P. Lynch, Roman Catholic

28 December 1916

Francis Richard Percival Fredric
Amelia Henrietta Smith

Francis Richard Percival Fredric
Amelia Henrietta Smith
💍 1917/110

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Music Teacher

28
29

Te Awamutu
New Plymouth

3 years
16 years

St Marys Anglican Church, New Plymouth

28 December 1916

Rev. Archdeacon F. G. Evans

No	35
Date of Notice	28 December 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Richard Percival Fredric	Amelia Henrietta Smith
	💍 1917/110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Music Teacher
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	3 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St Marys Anglican Church, New Plymouth
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon F. G. Evans

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).