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 823

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1916 Registrar William H. 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

5 July 1916

Alfred Benjamin Jackson
Blanche Ethel Mary Mackie

Alfred Benjamin Jackson
Blanche Ethel Mary Mackie
💍 1916/7850

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

22
23

Thames
Thames

4 days
23 years

St James Presbyterian Church

5500

5 July 1916

Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	5 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Benjamin Jackson	Blanche Ethel Mary Mackie
	💍 1916/7850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church
Folio	5500
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne, Presbyterian

7 July 1916

Edward Ernest Farmiloe
Ivy Florence Paul

Edward Ernest Farmiloe
Ivy Florence Paul
💍 1916/7858

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
28

Thames
Thames

3 days
28 years

In the house of Mrs Paul, Pollen Street, Thames

5501

7 July 1916

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	47
Date of Notice	7 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Ernest Farmiloe	Ivy Florence Paul
	💍 1916/7858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Paul, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	5501
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1916
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

11 July 1916

Edward David Anderton
Alice May Wood

Edward David Anderton
Alice May Wood
💍 1916/7849

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

30
26

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

5499

11 July 1916

William H Potts, Registrar

No	48
Date of Notice	11 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward David Anderton	Alice May Wood
	💍 1916/7849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	5499
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1916
Officiating Minister	William H Potts, Registrar

12 July 1916

Thomas Quilty
Hannah Leonard

Thomas Quilty
Hannah Leonard
💍 1916/93

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
22

Hauraki Plains, Thames
Hauraki Plains, Thames

6 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

5503

12 July 1916

Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	12 July 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Quilty	Hannah Leonard
	💍 1916/93
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Hauraki Plains, Thames	Hauraki Plains, Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	5503
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

9 August 1916

James McLean Clark
Ellen Margaret Cooney

James McLean Clark
Ellen Margaret Cooney
💍 1916/7869

Bachelor
Spinster

Launchman
Domestic duties

29
22

Thames
Thames

2 years
3 days

Church of Christ Pollen Street Thames

5502

9 August 1916

E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	50
Date of Notice	9 August 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McLean Clark	Ellen Margaret Cooney
	💍 1916/7869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Launchman	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Pollen Street Thames
Folio	5502
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1916
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

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).