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 759

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar W. 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

8 October 1917

William Bellamy White
Elsie May Keoghan

William Bellamy White
Elsie May Keoghan
💍 1917/618

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

28
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
22 years

St Francis Church, Willoughby St, Thames

5840

8 October 1917

Rev J. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	8 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bellamy White	Elsie May Keoghan
	💍 1917/618
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Willoughby St, Thames
Folio	5840
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

8 October 1917

Hugo Capewell
Sarah Lena Verran

Hugo Capewell
Sarah Lena Verran
💍 1917/6032

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

32
34

Thames
Thames

3 days
26 years

Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames

5841

8 October 1917

Rev S. J. Serpell, Methodist

No	28
Date of Notice	8 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugo Capewell	Sarah Lena Verran
	💍 1917/6032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pollen Street, Thames
Folio	5841
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev S. J. Serpell, Methodist

11 October 1917

James McKain
Olive May McNeil

James McKain
Olive May McNeil
💍 1917/6033

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

30
19

Thames
Thames

1 week
1 week

Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames

5842

Alexander McNeil (Father)

11 October 1917

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	11 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKain	Olive May McNeil
	💍 1917/6033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	5842
Consent	Alexander McNeil (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

15 October 1917

Sammie Peti
Kura Taranaki

Sammie Reti
Kura Taranaki
💍 1917/6034

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
21

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

21 years
21 years

Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames

5843

15 October 1917

E. H. Potts, Deputy Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	15 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sammie Peti	Kura Taranaki
BDM Match (95%)	Sammie Reti	Kura Taranaki
	💍 1917/6034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	21 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	5843
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1917
Officiating Minister	E. H. Potts, Deputy Registrar

27 October 1917

Butler Walter Simon
Annie Bell Shelley

Butler Walter Simon
Annie Bell Shelley
💍 1917/6036

Bachelor
Spinster

Flax miller
Domestic duties

23
21

Thames
Thames

7 days
7 days

Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames

5844

27 October 1917

W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	31
Date of Notice	27 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Butler Walter Simon	Annie Bell Shelley
	💍 1917/6036
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flax miller	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Mary Street, Thames
Folio	5844
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1917
Officiating Minister	W. H. Potts, 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).