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 821

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1916 Registrar W. J. Mundie

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

6 June 1916

Laurence Sinclair
Bedelia Annie Maher

Laurence Sinclair
Bedelia Annie Maher
💍 1916/6114

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

27
35

Thames
Thames

4 weeks
35 years

In the house of Mrs J. Maher, Tararu, Thames

3580

6 June 1916

Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	6 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Sinclair	Bedelia Annie Maher
	💍 1916/6114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	27	35
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 weeks	35 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs J. Maher, Tararu, Thames
Folio	3580
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

12 June 1916

Luther Clark
Hazel Brown

Luther Clark
Hazel Brown
💍 1916/9003

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
24

Puriri
Puriri

4 days
24 years

In the house of Mrs Brown, Puriri

2756

12 June 1916

Rev Joseph Clark, Baptist

No	38
Date of Notice	12 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luther Clark	Hazel Brown
	💍 1916/9003
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Brown, Puriri
Folio	2756
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev Joseph Clark, Baptist

13 June 1916

John Philip Degruchy Payn
Gladys Irene Snowling

John Philip Degruchy Payn
Gladys Irene Snowling
💍 1916/9032

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic duties

22
22

Thames
Thames

7 years
7 years

In the house of Mrs Snowling, Willoughby Street, Thames

3582

13 June 1916

Charles Waterhouse, Church of Christ

No	39
Date of Notice	13 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Philip Degruchy Payn	Gladys Irene Snowling
	💍 1916/9032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Snowling, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	3582
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Charles Waterhouse, Church of Christ

16 June 1916

Hedley Oscar Jenkin
Ada Hill

Hedley Oscar Jenkin
Ada Hill
💍 1916/6113

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper
Draper Assistant

24
22

Thames
Thames

24 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames

3579

16 June 1916

Rev S. J. Serpell, Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	16 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hedley Oscar Jenkin	Ada Hill
	💍 1916/6113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Draper Assistant
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	3579
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev S. J. Serpell, Methodist

19 June 1916

Roderick McLeod
Rubina Lillian Gordon

Roderick McLeod
Rubina Lillian Gordon
💍 1916/12526

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic duties

29
24

Thames
Thames

3 days
18 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames

3581

19 June 1916

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	19 June 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick McLeod	Rubina Lillian Gordon
	💍 1916/12526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	3581
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 June 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

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).