Intentions to Marry, 1919 Albertland to Helensville

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840481, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1919 is bound in seven volumes (a to g) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1919a contains pages 1-500, covering districts from Albertland to Helensville

Page 127

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar G. W. Jordan

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

581

30 May 1919

David McDowell
Helena Mary McPherson

David McDowell
Helena May McPherson
💍 1919/2739

Bachelor (Divorced 19 Dec 1916)

Salesman

43
42

Auckland
Auckland

7 months
12 years Herne Bay

House of Mrs Mason, Masons Avenue, Herne Bay

2495

30 May 1919

Rev. J. R. Jefferys, Presbyterian

No	581
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McDowell	Helena Mary McPherson
BDM Match (98%)	David McDowell	Helena May McPherson
	💍 1919/2739
Condition	Bachelor (Divorced 19 Dec 1916)
Profession	Salesman
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 months	12 years Herne Bay
Marriage Place	House of Mrs Mason, Masons Avenue, Herne Bay
Folio	2495
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Jefferys, Presbyterian

582

30 May 1919

Frank James Langford
Dorothy Louisa Box

Frank James Langford
Dorothy Louisa Cox
💍 1919/2740

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
20

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
9 years Devonport

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

2496

Lilly Box, mother

30 May 1919

Rev. J. W. Young, Anglican

No	582
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank James Langford	Dorothy Louisa Box
BDM Match (97%)	Frank James Langford	Dorothy Louisa Cox
	💍 1919/2740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years Devonport
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	2496
Consent	Lilly Box, mother
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Young, Anglican

583

30 May 1919

John Hunter Rose
Rose Patterson

John Hunter
Rose Patterson
💍 1919/2741

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

5 years
20 years Auckland

St Andrews Manse, Auckland

2497

30 May 1919

Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

No	583
Date of Notice	30 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hunter Rose	Rose Patterson
BDM Match (84%)	John Hunter	Rose Patterson
	💍 1919/2741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years Auckland
Marriage Place	St Andrews Manse, Auckland
Folio	2497
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, Presbyterian

584

31 May 1919

Richard McKenzie
Charlotte Margaret Lang

Richard McKenzie
Charlotte Margaret Lang
💍 1919/2742

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

26
27

Auckland
Auckland

3 months
5 years Auckland

St James' Church, Auckland

2498

31 May 1919

Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

No	584
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard McKenzie	Charlotte Margaret Lang
	💍 1919/2742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	5 years Auckland
Marriage Place	St James' Church, Auckland
Folio	2498
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Walker, Presbyterian

585

31 May 1919

Victor William Henry Dawson
Edith Alva Arthur

Victor William Henry Dawson
Edith Alsveer Arthur
💍 1919/2743

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese Maker

26
29

Auckland
Auckland

11 days
11 days Devonport

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

2499

31 May 1919

Archdn. H. A. Hawkins, Anglican

No	585
Date of Notice	31 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor William Henry Dawson	Edith Alva Arthur
BDM Match (90%)	Victor William Henry Dawson	Edith Alsveer Arthur
	💍 1919/2743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese Maker
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	11 days	11 days Devonport
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	2499
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Archdn. H. A. Hawkins, 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).