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 839

District of Whakatane Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. H. Ormerod

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 January 1917

Albert Neno
Esther Coventry

Albert Neno
Esther Coventry
💍 1917/1781

Widower
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

37
27

Taneatua
Whakatane

9 years
4 days

C. G. Jacobs Private Residence Whakatane

913

8 January 1917

Rev H. S. Kings Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Neno	Esther Coventry
	💍 1917/1781
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	37	27
Dwelling Place	Taneatua	Whakatane
Length of Residence	9 years	4 days
Marriage Place	C. G. Jacobs Private Residence Whakatane
Folio	913
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. S. Kings Methodist

8 January 1917

Ernest Percy Odonnell
Mary Doherty

Ernest Percy ODonnell
Mary Doherty
💍 1917/1786

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
24

Whakatane
Whakatane

3 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church Whakatane

918

8 January 1917

Dean Lightheart Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Percy Odonnell	Mary Doherty
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Percy ODonnell	Mary Doherty
	💍 1917/1786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Whakatane
Folio	918
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1917
Officiating Minister	Dean Lightheart Roman Catholic

5 February 1917

William Robert Knight
Herita Heemi

William Robert Knight
Herita Heemi
💍 1917/1782

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

27
22

Awakeri
Ruatoki

3 years
22 years

Managers Cottage Dairy Factory Awakeri

914

5 February 1917

Rev. H. S. Kings Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	5 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Knight	Herita Heemi
	💍 1917/1782
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Awakeri	Ruatoki
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Managers Cottage Dairy Factory Awakeri
Folio	914
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Kings Methodist

19 February 1917

Edward Dwinglehust Addison
Alma Wilhilmina Olen

Edward Swinglehurst Addison
Alma Wilhelmina Olsen
💍 1917/1784

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
24

Waimana
Taneatua

25 years
12 years

Church of England Taneatua

916

19 February 1917

Rev. J. W. Chapman Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	19 February 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Dwinglehust Addison	Alma Wilhilmina Olen
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Swinglehurst Addison	Alma Wilhelmina Olsen
	💍 1917/1784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Waimana	Taneatua
Length of Residence	25 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Taneatua
Folio	916
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Chapman Anglican

6 March 1917

Waata Kopae
Emarina Poutaiaha Kingi

Waata Kopae
Evelyn King
💍 1917/1783

Bachelor
Spinster

Theological Student
Mission Worker

22
23

Whakatane
Whakatane

22 years
3 years

Pahou Anglican Church

915

6 March 1917

Rev H. W. Klingender Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	6 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Waata Kopae	Emarina Poutaiaha Kingi
BDM Match (65%)	Waata Kopae	Evelyn King
	💍 1917/1783
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Theological Student	Mission Worker
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whakatane
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Pahou Anglican Church
Folio	915
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Klingender Anglican

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).