Intentions to Marry, 1917 Helensville to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840470, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1917 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.

1917b contains pages 357-868, covering districts from Helensville to Whangaroa

Page 553

District of Ngaruawahia Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar H. Morrish

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

23 April 1917

Zenas Owen
Myrtle Hazel Edith Frances Rogers

Zenas Owen
Myrtle Hazel Edith Frances Rogers
💍 1917/3378

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

32 years
19 years

Juhi Karamea
Ngaruawahia

32 years
10 years

St Peters Anglican Church Hamilton

2527

Edward John Rogers, Father of minor

23 April 1917

Rev Eric Ellerslie Bamford, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	23 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Zenas Owen	Myrtle Hazel Edith Frances Rogers
	💍 1917/3378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Juhi Karamea	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	32 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Anglican Church Hamilton
Folio	2527
Consent	Edward John Rogers, Father of minor
Date of Certificate	23 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Eric Ellerslie Bamford, Church of England

30 April 1917

Herbert Kinmont
Evelyn Collins

Herbert Kininmont
Evelyn Collins
💍 1917/3339

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

26 years
21 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

2 years
8 years

Registrars office Ngaruawahia

2557

30 April 1917

George H. Morrish, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	30 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Kinmont	Evelyn Collins
BDM Match (94%)	Herbert Kininmont	Evelyn Collins
	💍 1917/3339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	26 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Ngaruawahia
Folio	2557
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1917
Officiating Minister	George H. Morrish, Registrar

29 May 1917

James Durrell Monancy Cornwall
Janet Kay

James Durell Monamy Cornwall
Janet Kay
💍 1917/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

32 years
31 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
31 years

Church of England Ngaruawahia

2558

29 May 1917

Rev James Leslie Allan Kayll, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	29 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Durrell Monancy Cornwall	Janet Kay
BDM Match (95%)	James Durell Monamy Cornwall	Janet Kay
	💍 1917/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	32 years	31 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ngaruawahia
Folio	2558
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev James Leslie Allan Kayll, Church of England

29 May 1917

Claud Nelson White
Ivy Olive Allport

Claud Nelson White
Ivy Olive Allport
💍 1917/3341

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25 years
20 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

4 years
3 years

Private Residence of Claud Nelson White Ngaruawahia

2559

Lillian Amelia Metcalf mother of minor

29 May 1917

Rev E. H. Pain, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	29 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claud Nelson White	Ivy Olive Allport
	💍 1917/3341
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of Claud Nelson White Ngaruawahia
Folio	2559
Consent	Lillian Amelia Metcalf mother of minor
Date of Certificate	29 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev E. H. Pain, Methodist

16 June 1917

Leslie Lovell
Rose Eileen Margaret Lovell

Leslie Powell
Rose Eileen Margaret Lovell
💍 1917/3318

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22 years
22 years

Taupiri
Taupiri

22 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church Ngaruawahia

2560

16 June 1917

Rev Father Michael Edge

No	26
Date of Notice	16 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Lovell	Rose Eileen Margaret Lovell
BDM Match (92%)	Leslie Powell	Rose Eileen Margaret Lovell
	💍 1917/3318
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22 years	22 years
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Taupiri
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Ngaruawahia
Folio	2560
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Michael Edge

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).