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 849

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1917 Registrar J. Bice

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

10/17

19 March 1917

Richard Henry Franklin Vixey
Ruby Laura Alderton

Richard Henry Franklin Nixey
Ruby Laura Alderton
💍 1917/1792

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

23
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 months
22 years

Residence of Mrs H. L. Alderton, Cook Street, Whangarei

923

19 March 1917

Rev. W. Day, Presbyterian Minister

No	10/17
Date of Notice	19 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Henry Franklin Vixey	Ruby Laura Alderton
BDM Match (98%)	Richard Henry Franklin Nixey	Ruby Laura Alderton
	💍 1917/1792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs H. L. Alderton, Cook Street, Whangarei
Folio	923
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Day, Presbyterian Minister

11/17

22 March 1917

James McKinley
Maude Rachel Preece

James McKinley
Maud Rachel Preece
💍 1917/1791

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
31

Kara
Ruatangata

29 years
5 1/2 years

Church of England, Whangarei

922

22 March 1917

Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

No	11/17
Date of Notice	22 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McKinley	Maude Rachel Preece
BDM Match (97%)	James McKinley	Maud Rachel Preece
	💍 1917/1791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Kara	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	29 years	5 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	922
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

12/17

27 March 1917

Joseph Cooper
Emma Cook

Joseph Cooper
Emma Cork
💍 1917/1790

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
26

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
26 years

Church of England, Whangarei

921

27 March 1917

Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England Minister

No	12/17
Date of Notice	27 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Cooper	Emma Cook
BDM Match (94%)	Joseph Cooper	Emma Cork
	💍 1917/1790
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	921
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Lush, Church of England Minister

13/17

29 March 1917

Te Hura Paraha
Te Mooro Pepe

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 days

Church of England, Whangarei

Not used

29 March 1917

Rev. Keina Poata, Church of England Minister

No	13/17
Date of Notice	29 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Te Hura Paraha	Te Mooro Pepe
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	Not used
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keina Poata, Church of England Minister

14/17

30 March 1917

William Charles Spratt
Bertha Mason

William Charles Spratt
Bertha Mason
💍 1917/2308

Bachelor
Spinster

Turbine attendant
Domestic

27
22

Onerahi
Waikiekie

15 years
22 years

Dwelling of Henry Mason, Waikiekie

1494

30 March 1917

Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

No	14/17
Date of Notice	30 March 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Spratt	Bertha Mason
	💍 1917/2308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Turbine attendant	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Waikiekie
Length of Residence	15 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Henry Mason, Waikiekie
Folio	1494
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Johnson, Church of England Minister

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).