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 757

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1917 Registrar A. Bruce

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

2 July 1917

William Downie Stewart Aitken
Margaret Wilson Law

William Downie Stewart Aitken
Margaret Wilson Law
💍 1917/4867

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

28
26

Thames
Thames

3 years
26 years

In the Presbyterian Church Pollen Street Thames

4292

2 July 1917

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	2 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Downie Stewart Aitken	Margaret Wilson Law
	💍 1917/4867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Presbyterian Church Pollen Street Thames
Folio	4292
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

4 July 1917

Benedict Benjamin Schumacher
Rosa Zberg

Benedict Benjamin Schumacher
Rosa Zberg
💍 1917/4868

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
20

Thames
Thames

3 weeks
4 years

Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St Thames

4293

Rosina Davies (mother)

4 July 1917

Rev. J. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	4 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benedict Benjamin Schumacher	Rosa Zberg
	💍 1917/4868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 weeks	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Willoughby St Thames
Folio	4293
Consent	Rosina Davies (mother)
Date of Certificate	4 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

9 July 1917

Ernest Percy Wright
Edith Elvira Miles

Ernest Percy Wright
Edith Elvira Miles
💍 1917/4869

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

18
17

Puriri
Thames

18 years
15 years

Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Street Thames

4294

Henry Thos Wright (father), Frederick Miles (father)

9 July 1917

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	9 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Percy Wright	Edith Elvira Miles
	💍 1917/4869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Thames
Length of Residence	18 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Street Thames
Folio	4294
Consent	Henry Thos Wright (father), Frederick Miles (father)
Date of Certificate	9 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

21 July 1917

Arthur Bright Oldcastle Brooks
Emma Innis

Arthur Right Old Castle Brooker
Emma Innis
💍 1917/4871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
32

Thames
Wharepoa

3 days
30 years

At the residence of Mr A Innis Wharepoa

4295

21 July 1917

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	21 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bright Oldcastle Brooks	Emma Innis
BDM Match (90%)	Arthur Right Old Castle Brooker	Emma Innis
	💍 1917/4871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Thames	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr A Innis Wharepoa
Folio	4295
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

23 July 1917

William Bernard Gilmore
Margaret Jane Lewis

William Bernard Gilmore
Margaret Jane Lewes
💍 1917/4872

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Tailoress

30
30

Thames
Thames

3 days
30 years

Church of England Mackay St Thames

4296

23 July 1917

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	23 July 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Bernard Gilmore	Margaret Jane Lewis
BDM Match (97%)	William Bernard Gilmore	Margaret Jane Lewes
	💍 1917/4872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Tailoress
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Mackay St Thames
Folio	4296
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1917
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).