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 721

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar J. Hollywood

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 April 1917

David Millar Clark McBurney
Letitia Rees

David Millar Clark McBurney
Letitia Rees
💍 1917/3359

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman
Nurse

26
27

Waihou
Waihou

5 days
12 days

Private residence of C. H. Wood, Waihou

2601

4 April 1917

Rev. O. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	4 April 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Millar Clark McBurney	Letitia Rees
	💍 1917/3359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman	Nurse
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Waihou	Waihou
Length of Residence	5 days	12 days
Marriage Place	Private residence of C. H. Wood, Waihou
Folio	2601
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Blundell, Presbyterian

3 May 1917

Robert Miller Taylor
Maud Hinemoa Cecilia Searle

Robert Miller Taylor
Maud Hinemoa Cecilia Dearle
💍 1917/3392

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

23
18

Claudelands
Mangaiti

2 years
18 years

Private residence Mrs A. G. Searle, Mangaiti

2602

Alice Grey Searle Mother Mangaiti

3 May 1917

Rev. O. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	3 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Miller Taylor	Maud Hinemoa Cecilia Searle
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Miller Taylor	Maud Hinemoa Cecilia Dearle
	💍 1917/3392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Claudelands	Mangaiti
Length of Residence	2 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Private residence Mrs A. G. Searle, Mangaiti
Folio	2602
Consent	Alice Grey Searle Mother Mangaiti
Date of Certificate	3 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Blundell, Presbyterian

10 May 1917

Matthew Delich
Mary Josephine Ryan

Matthew Delich
Mary Josephine Ryan
💍 1917/3403

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

26
22

Auckland
Waihou

1 year
22 years

Roman Catholic Church Te Aroha

2603

10 May 1917

Rev. J. McGuinness, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	10 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Delich	Mary Josephine Ryan
	💍 1917/3403
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Waihou
Length of Residence	1 year	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Te Aroha
Folio	2603
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McGuinness, Roman Catholic

17 May 1917

James Yeoman Ellery
Ethel Gillies Pilling

James Yeoman Ellery
Ethel Gillies Pilling
💍 1917/3410

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

28
26

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

22 years
16 months

Church of England Te Aroha

2604

17 May 1917

Rev. G. N. Morse, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	17 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Yeoman Ellery	Ethel Gillies Pilling
	💍 1917/3410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	22 years	16 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Te Aroha
Folio	2604
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Morse, Church of England

11 June 1917

Arthur James Iles
Ada Hunt

Arthur James Iles
Ada Hunt
💍 1917/3411

Divorced
Spinster

Photographer
Photographer's Assistant

47
31

Rotorua
Rotorua

18 years
10 years

Private Residence of James Kenny, Te Aroha

2605

11 June 1917

Rev. O. Blundell, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	11 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Iles	Ada Hunt
	💍 1917/3411
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Photographer's Assistant
Age	47	31
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Private Residence of James Kenny, Te Aroha
Folio	2605
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Blundell, 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).