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 405

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar A. Mason

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

14 October 1919

Henry Arnold Hansen
Eveline Margaret Frances Allen

Henry Arnold Hansen
Eveline Margaret Frances Allen
💍 1919/8493

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor
Domestic

27
20

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

8 years
15 years

Church of England Dargaville

8148

Alexander Allen Father

14 October 1919

Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	14 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arnold Hansen	Eveline Margaret Frances Allen
	💍 1919/8493
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	8 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	8148
Consent	Alexander Allen Father
Date of Certificate	14 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

28 October 1919

John Bernard Cranston
Beryl Milicent Lambert

John Bernard Crauston
Beryl Milicent Lambert
💍 1919/8494

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
20

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

5 months
Life

Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare

8149

28 October 1919

Rev Ja. Devolder, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	28 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bernard Cranston	Beryl Milicent Lambert
BDM Match (98%)	John Bernard Crauston	Beryl Milicent Lambert
	💍 1919/8494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	5 months	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare
Folio	8149
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Ja. Devolder, Roman Catholic

31 October 1919

John George Newsham
Phoebe Robles

John George Newsham
Phoebe Hobbs
💍 1919/8495

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
33

Dargaville
Dargaville

7 days
13 days

Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare

8150

31 October 1919

Rev J. W. Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

No	27
Date of Notice	31 October 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Newsham	Phoebe Robles
BDM Match (88%)	John George Newsham	Phoebe Hobbs
	💍 1919/8495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	7 days	13 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Mangawhare
Folio	8150
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 October 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. W. Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

19 November 1919

John Joseph Purnell Junr
Ivy Adeline Dobson

John Joseph Powell
Ivy Adeline Dobson
💍 1919/4597

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

23
20

Dargaville
Aratapu

6 years
4 years

Church of England Aratapu

8151

James Dobson Father

19 November 1919

Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	19 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Purnell Junr	Ivy Adeline Dobson
BDM Match (83%)	John Joseph Powell	Ivy Adeline Dobson
	💍 1919/4597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Aratapu
Length of Residence	6 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Aratapu
Folio	8151
Consent	James Dobson Father
Date of Certificate	19 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

29 December 1919

John Joseph Coulter
Lilian Elizabeth Peat

John Joseph Coulter
Lilian Elizabeth Peat
💍 1919/4608

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic

52
30

Dargaville
Dargaville

6 days
15 years

Church of England Dargaville

8152

29 December 1919

Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	29 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Coulter	Lilian Elizabeth Peat
	💍 1919/4608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic
Age	52	30
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	6 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	8152
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. M. Smyth, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).