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 129

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1919 Registrar [illegible]

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

591

2 June 1919

Wilfred Charles Davies
Harriet Mary Kellean

Wilfred Charles Davies
Harriet May Skillern
💍 1919/2847

Bachelor
Spinster

Colliery Manager

25
33

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
3 days

St Paul's Church, Auckland

2505

2 June 1919

Rev C. A. B. Watson, Anglican

No	591
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Charles Davies	Harriet Mary Kellean
BDM Match (88%)	Wilfred Charles Davies	Harriet May Skillern
	💍 1919/2847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Colliery Manager
Age	25	33
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Paul's Church, Auckland
Folio	2505
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev C. A. B. Watson, Anglican

592

2 June 1919

Roderick Brutus Murray Parker
Elizabeth Jenkins

Roderick Brutus Murray Carter
Elizabeth Jenkins
💍 1919/2848

Bachelor
Spinster

Blood Stock Agent

26
22

Auckland
Auckland

4 months
8 years

St Matthew Church, Auckland

2506

2 June 1919

Rev G. A. Calder, Anglican

No	592
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Brutus Murray Parker	Elizabeth Jenkins
BDM Match (97%)	Roderick Brutus Murray Carter	Elizabeth Jenkins
	💍 1919/2848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blood Stock Agent
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	4 months	8 years
Marriage Place	St Matthew Church, Auckland
Folio	2506
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev G. A. Calder, Anglican

593

2 June 1919

Alfred Stott
Freida Hearn Buchanan

Alfred Stott
Freida Mary Buchanan
💍 1919/2849

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk

26
23

Hamilton
Auckland

15 days
7 years

Holy Trinity Church, Devonport

2507

2 June 1919

Archdn. H. A. Hawkins, Anglican

No	593
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Stott	Freida Hearn Buchanan
BDM Match (93%)	Alfred Stott	Freida Mary Buchanan
	💍 1919/2849
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Auckland
Length of Residence	15 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Devonport
Folio	2507
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Archdn. H. A. Hawkins, Anglican

594

2 June 1919

Clarence Benjamin Keen
Ada Mary Bailey

Clarence Benjamin Skeen
Ada May Bailey
💍 1919/2850

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger

29
25

Auckland
Auckland

7 years
4 years

St John's Church, Ponsonby

2508

2 June 1919

Rev H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

No	594
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Benjamin Keen	Ada Mary Bailey
BDM Match (92%)	Clarence Benjamin Skeen	Ada May Bailey
	💍 1919/2850
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St John's Church, Ponsonby
Folio	2508
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev H. E. Bellhouse, Methodist

595

2 June 1919

William Edward Gordon Moore
Violet Mary Purnell

William Edward Gordon Moir
Violet May Purnell
💍 1919/2851

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman

33
19

Auckland
Auckland

33 years
19 years

Registrar's Office, Auckland

2509

Alfred Clegg Purnell, Father

2 June 1919

Registrar

No	595
Date of Notice	2 June 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Gordon Moore	Violet Mary Purnell
BDM Match (94%)	William Edward Gordon Moir	Violet May Purnell
	💍 1919/2851
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	33 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Auckland
Folio	2509
Consent	Alfred Clegg Purnell, Father
Date of Certificate	2 June 1919
Officiating Minister	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).