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 857

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1917 Registrar F. Bird

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 October 1917

Joseph Jeferson Murphy
Jessie Halling

Joseph Jeferson Murphy
Jessy Halling
💍 1917/6054

Bachelor
Spinster

Quarryman
Domestic

45
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

7 days
7 days

Registrar's Office Whangarei

5853

2 October 1917

F. Bird Registrar

No	37
Date of Notice	2 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Jeferson Murphy	Jessie Halling
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Jeferson Murphy	Jessy Halling
	💍 1917/6054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	Domestic
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	5853
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1917
Officiating Minister	F. Bird Registrar

3 October 1917

George Winters Richardson
Jessie McFarlane

George Winters Richardson
Jessie McFarlane
💍 1917/6055

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
21

Waipu
Whangarei

4 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

5864

3 October 1917

Rev. Wm Day Presbyterian Minister

No	38
Date of Notice	3 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Winters Richardson	Jessie McFarlane
	💍 1917/6055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Waipu	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	5864
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Day Presbyterian Minister

19 October 1917

Edward Henry Rufus Giesen
Kitty Marie Briggs

Edward Henry Rufus Giesen
Kitty Marie Briggs
💍 1917/6056

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Domestic

24
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 years
15 years

Church of England Whangarei

5865

19 October 1917

Rev. W. C. Lush Church of England Minister

No	39
Date of Notice	19 October 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Rufus Giesen	Kitty Marie Briggs
	💍 1917/6056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	5865
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Lush Church of England Minister

6 November 1917

James Townsend
Florence Beatrice Haigh

James Townsend
Florence Beatrice Haigh
💍 1917/6057

Widower
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

41
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 months
3 years

Methodist Church Whangarei

5866

6 November 1917

Rev. J. R. Clark Methodist Minister

No	40
Date of Notice	6 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Townsend	Florence Beatrice Haigh
	💍 1917/6057
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	41	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Whangarei
Folio	5866
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Clark Methodist Minister

21 November 1917

James Edward Yorke
Mary Joan

James Edward Yorke
Mary Joan
💍 1917/6058

Bachelor
Supposed widow Husband not heard of for 10 years

Flaxmiller
Domestic

37
30

Ruatangata
Ruatangata

7 years
10 years

Registrar's Office Whangarei

5867

21 November 1917

F. Bird Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	21 November 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Yorke	Mary Joan
	💍 1917/6058
Condition	Bachelor	Supposed widow Husband not heard of for 10 years
Profession	Flaxmiller	Domestic
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	5867
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1917
Officiating Minister	F. Bird 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).