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 813

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1916 Registrar William De Potts

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 January 1916

Albert Arthur Gate
Nellie May Rau

Albert Arthur Tate
Nellie May Rau
💍 1916/8651

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
21

Shelly Beach Hauraki Plains
Shelly Beach Hauraki Plains

2 years
4 1/2 years

St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames

248

3 January 1916

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Arthur Gate	Nellie May Rau
BDM Match (97%)	Albert Arthur Tate	Nellie May Rau
	💍 1916/8651
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Shelly Beach Hauraki Plains	Shelly Beach Hauraki Plains
Length of Residence	2 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	248
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

3 January 1916

William David Morley
Frances Agness Autridge

William David Norley
Frances Agnes Autridge
💍 1916/8649

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter N.Z. Railways
Domestic duties

28
25

Thames
Thames

9 days
25 years

In the house of Mrs Autridge Richmond Street Thames

246

3 January 1916

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William David Morley	Frances Agness Autridge
BDM Match (95%)	William David Norley	Frances Agnes Autridge
	💍 1916/8649
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter N.Z. Railways	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	9 days	25 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Autridge Richmond Street Thames
Folio	246
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne Presbyterian

3 January 1916

Leonard Thomas Stewart
Jane Elizabeth Serwel

Leonard Thomas Stewart
Jane Elizabeth Herivel
💍 1916/8650

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Book Keeper

26
20

Thames
Thames

26 years
20 years

In the St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames

247

Esther Serwel (mother)

3 January 1916

Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Thomas Stewart	Jane Elizabeth Serwel
BDM Match (93%)	Leonard Thomas Stewart	Jane Elizabeth Herivel
	💍 1916/8650
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Book Keeper
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	247
Consent	Esther Serwel (mother)
Date of Certificate	3 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Dr O'Callaghan Church of England

13 January 1916

George Milnes Mackie
Elizabeth Taylor Fleming

George Milnes Mackie
Elizabeth Taylor Fleming
💍 1916/9265

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Dressmaker

25
23

Thames
Thames

25 years
7 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street Thames

249

13 January 1916

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Milnes Mackie	Elizabeth Taylor Fleming
	💍 1916/9265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street Thames
Folio	249
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne Presbyterian

16 January 1916

Joseph Bullenwell Robinson
Eleanor Esther Mitchell

John Bullerwell Robinson
Eleanor Esther Mitchell
💍 1916/8653

Widower November 1907
Widow 8th Dec 1909

Fitter
Domestic duties

46
40

Thames
Thames

3 years
6 months

In the Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

250

16 January 1916

William De Potts Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	16 January 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bullenwell Robinson	Eleanor Esther Mitchell
BDM Match (90%)	John Bullerwell Robinson	Eleanor Esther Mitchell
	💍 1916/8653
Condition	Widower November 1907	Widow 8th Dec 1909
Profession	Fitter	Domestic duties
Age	46	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	In the Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	250
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1916
Officiating Minister	William De Potts Registrar

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).