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 825

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 December 1916 Registrar H. Mainwaring

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

4 October 1916

Charles Hedley Colegrave
Margaret Walker

Charles Hedley Colegrave
Margaret Walker
💍 1916/1051

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Domestic duties

31
30

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

In the house of Mr J Hill Sealey Street Thames

7437

4 October 1916

Rev J Milne Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	4 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hedley Colegrave	Margaret Walker
	💍 1916/1051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Domestic duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J Hill Sealey Street Thames
Folio	7437
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev J Milne Presbyterian

11 October 1916

James Bullen
Catherine Drozdowski

James Cullen
Catherine Drozdowski
💍 1916/1030

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic duties

29
22

Thames
Thames

4 months
7 days

In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

7432

11 October 1916

Rev T J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	53
Date of Notice	11 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Bullen	Catherine Drozdowski
BDM Match (96%)	James Cullen	Catherine Drozdowski
	💍 1916/1030
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	7 days
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	7432
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev T J Dignan Roman Catholic

14 October 1916

Albert Fisher
Mary Beatrice Jamieson

Albert Fisher
Mary Beatrice Jamieson
💍 1916/1050

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
26

Thames
Thames

33 years
26 years

In the Church of England Tararu Thames

7436

14 October 1916

Rev A J Beck Church of England

No	54
Date of Notice	14 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Fisher	Mary Beatrice Jamieson
	💍 1916/1050
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	33 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Tararu Thames
Folio	7436
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck Church of England

18 October 1916

Albert Antony Wenzlick
Annie Elizabeth Russek

Albert Antoney Wenzlick
Annie Elizabeth Russek
💍 1916/2136

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
22

Tapu
Tapu

12 years
2 years

In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

7431

18 October 1916

Rev T J Dignan Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	18 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Antony Wenzlick	Annie Elizabeth Russek
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Antoney Wenzlick	Annie Elizabeth Russek
	💍 1916/2136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Tapu	Tapu
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	In the Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	7431
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev T J Dignan Roman Catholic

20 October 1916

Joseph Sumich
Ray Fisher

Joseph Sumich
Ray Fisher
💍 1916/1049

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
22

Thames
Thames

8 years
22 years

In the Church of England Tararu Thames

7435

20 October 1916

Rev A J Beck Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	20 October 1916
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Sumich	Ray Fisher
	💍 1916/1049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	22 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England Tararu Thames
Folio	7435
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1916
Officiating Minister	Rev A J Beck 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).