Intentions to Marry, 1918 Kuaotunu to Whangaroa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840476, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1918 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.

1918b contains pages 433-864, covering districts from Kuaotunu to Whangaroa

Page 749

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1918 Registrar W. 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

16 January 1918

John Henry Pfleging
Mary Lucinda Downson

John Henry Pfieging
Mary Lucinda Townson
💍 1918/1197

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Music teacher

40
27

Thames
Thames

3 days
4 weeks

St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames

961

16 January 1918

Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	16 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Pfleging	Mary Lucinda Downson
BDM Match (95%)	John Henry Pfieging	Mary Lucinda Townson
	💍 1918/1197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Music teacher
Age	40	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St Georges Church of England Mackay Street Thames
Folio	961
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

16 January 1918

Hoori Kipa
Mereana Kahukura Lord

Hori Kipa
Mereana Kahukiwi Ford
💍 1918/1198

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

27
23

Thames
Puriri

2 years
23 years

Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

962

16 January 1918

W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hoori Kipa	Mereana Kahukura Lord
BDM Match (86%)	Hori Kipa	Mereana Kahukiwi Ford
	💍 1918/1198
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Puriri
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	962
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1918
Officiating Minister	W. H. Potts, Registrar

22 January 1918

Samuel Alexander Hindman
Alice Myrtle Thorburn

Samuel Alexander Hindman
Alice Myrtle Thorburn
💍 1918/1199

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Mechanic
Domestic Duties

25
22

Thames
Thames

3 days
22 years

St James Sunday School Tararu Thames

963

22 January 1918

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	22 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Alexander Hindman	Alice Myrtle Thorburn
	💍 1918/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St James Sunday School Tararu Thames
Folio	963
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

23 January 1918

William Thomas Matthews
Mary Ellen Phillips

William Thomas Matthews
Mary Ellen Phillips
💍 1918/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Car Painter
Domestic duties

29
27

Thames
Thames

4 days
27 years

Church of England Tararu Thames

964

23 January 1918

Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	23 January 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Matthews	Mary Ellen Phillips
	💍 1918/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Car Painter	Domestic duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Tararu Thames
Folio	964
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1918
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck, Church of England

9 February 1918

Edward Blackburn Hill
Valerie Alice Millar

Edward Blackburn Hill
Valarie Alice Millar
💍 1918/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
23

Turua
Turua

3 years
6 months

Registrar Office Mary St Thames

965

9 February 1918

W. H. Potts, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	9 February 1918
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Blackburn Hill	Valerie Alice Millar
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Blackburn Hill	Valarie Alice Millar
	💍 1918/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary St Thames
Folio	965
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1918
Officiating Minister	W. 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).