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 665

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar B. L. Hammond

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 1917

John McQuillan
Ada Mary Pearson

John McQuillan
Ada Mary Pearson
💍 1917/2309

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

55
34

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

Registrars Office Courthouse Rotorua

1495

3 January 1917

Arthur Harry Cutter Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McQuillan	Ada Mary Pearson
	💍 1917/2309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	55	34
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	1495
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Arthur Harry Cutter Registrar

15 January 1917

Frederick Arthur Burrett
Ellen Andrews

Fredrick Arthur Burrett
Ellen Andrews
💍 1917/1746

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Home duties

22
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 years
14 years

Methodist Church Hinemoa Street Rotorua

879

Stephen Andrews Father

15 January 1917

Rev. Harold Theodore Peat Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Arthur Burrett	Ellen Andrews
BDM Match (98%)	Fredrick Arthur Burrett	Ellen Andrews
	💍 1917/1746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Home duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hinemoa Street Rotorua
Folio	879
Consent	Stephen Andrews Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harold Theodore Peat Methodist

24 January 1917

Horace Norman Ennish
Alice Violet Turvey

Horace Norman Cornish
Alice Violet Turvey
💍 1917/1745

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Waitress

25
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 months
2 months

Salvation Army Hall Arawa Street Rotorua

878

24 January 1917

Captain Herbert F. Whitley Salvation Army

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Norman Ennish	Alice Violet Turvey
BDM Match (93%)	Horace Norman Cornish	Alice Violet Turvey
	💍 1917/1745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Waitress
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall Arawa Street Rotorua
Folio	878
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Captain Herbert F. Whitley Salvation Army

5 February 1917

James Herbert Barr
Jean Gardner

James Herbert Barr
Jean Gardner
💍 1917/1744

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Household duties

33
31

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
15 years

St Luke's Anglican Church Haupapa St Rotorua

877

5 February 1917

Rev Kenneth E Maclean Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	5 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Barr	Jean Gardner
	💍 1917/1744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Household duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church Haupapa St Rotorua
Folio	877
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev Kenneth E Maclean Anglican

21 February 1917

Henry Thomas Mason
Christina Barbara Coohey

Henry Thomas Mason
Christina Barbara Cookey
💍 1917/1743

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Dressmaker

29
27

Rotorua
Rotorua

16 months
6 months

Registrar's Office Courthouse Rotorua

876

21 February 1917

Arthur Harry Cutter Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	21 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Thomas Mason	Christina Barbara Coohey
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Thomas Mason	Christina Barbara Cookey
	💍 1917/1743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	16 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Courthouse Rotorua
Folio	876
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Arthur Harry Cutter 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).