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 754

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1917 Registrar William 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

10 May 1917

Edward Anderson
Miriama Kipa

Edward Anderson
Miriama Kipa
💍 1917/3402

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
30

Matatoki
Kopu

35 years
30 years

Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames

2620

10 May 1917

William H. Potts Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	10 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Anderson	Miriama Kipa
	💍 1917/3402
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	30
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Kopu
Length of Residence	35 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	2620
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1917
Officiating Minister	William H. Potts Registrar

23 May 1917

Henry Hans Christopher
Helena Evelyn Dennerley

Henry Hans Christopher
Helena Evelyn Dennerly
💍 1917/3404

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Waitress

32
21

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames

2621

23 May 1917

F. J. Dignan Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	23 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hans Christopher	Helena Evelyn Dennerley
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Hans Christopher	Helena Evelyn Dennerly
	💍 1917/3404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Waitress
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Willoughby Street Thames
Folio	2621
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1917
Officiating Minister	F. J. Dignan Roman Catholic

29 May 1917

Joseph Morris
Florence Elizabeth Bedford

Joseph Morris
Florence Elizabeth Bedford
💍 1917/3405

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop Assistant
Domestic duties

23
22

Thames
Puriri Thames

16 days
22 years

Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Terrace Thames

2622

29 May 1917

Rev J. Milne Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	29 May 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Morris	Florence Elizabeth Bedford
	💍 1917/3405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Puriri Thames
Length of Residence	16 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Rolleston Terrace Thames
Folio	2622
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne Presbyterian

5 June 1917

Samuel Edgar Levers
Susan Elizabeth Shetton

Samuel Edgar Levers
Susan Elizabeth Stretton
💍 1917/3409

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
30

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

4 years
8 months

In the house of Mr G Shetton Waitakaruru

2626

5 June 1917

Rev W. Kellie Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	5 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Edgar Levers	Susan Elizabeth Shetton
BDM Match (96%)	Samuel Edgar Levers	Susan Elizabeth Stretton
	💍 1917/3409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	4 years	8 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr G Shetton Waitakaruru
Folio	2626
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1917
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Kellie Presbyterian

15 June 1917

Edward Jobe
Rangi Royal

Edward Jofe
Rangi Royal
💍 1917/3406

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

33
29

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames

2623

15 June 1917

William H. Potts Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	15 June 1917
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Jobe	Rangi Royal
BDM Match (95%)	Edward Jofe	Rangi Royal
	💍 1917/3406
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	33	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	2623
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1917
Officiating Minister	William 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).