Intentions to Marry, 1919 Herekino to Wairewa

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840482, 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.

1919b contains pages 501-1004, covering districts from Herekino to Wairewa

Page 911

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1919 Registrar Emily M. 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

17 January 1919

John Samuel McWatters
Virginia Minnie Phillips

John Samuel McWatters
Virginia Minnie Phillips
💍 1919/1176

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
24

Ngatea
Ngatea

7 years
5 years

In the house of Mr J. S. McWatters Ngatea

1032

17 January 1919

Charles Duncan Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	17 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Samuel McWatters	Virginia Minnie Phillips
	💍 1919/1176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr J. S. McWatters Ngatea
Folio	1032
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Charles Duncan Methodist

25 January 1919

Leslie Lomas
Ruby Florence Gladys Bambrick

Leslie Lomas
Ruby Florence Gladys Bambrick
💍 1919/1177

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic duties

21
18

Thames
Thames

21 years
7 months

In the house of Mrs Bambrick Pollen Street Thames

1033

Charlotte Matilda Bambrick (Mother)

25 January 1919

Charles Duncan Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	25 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Lomas	Ruby Florence Gladys Bambrick
	💍 1919/1177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	7 months
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Bambrick Pollen Street Thames
Folio	1033
Consent	Charlotte Matilda Bambrick (Mother)
Date of Certificate	25 January 1919
Officiating Minister	Charles Duncan Methodist

27 January 1919

John Edward Reid
Harriet Brown

John Edward Reid
Harriet Brown
💍 1919/1154

Widower November 1917
Widow 19th July 1918

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

58
57

Thames
Thames

40 years
50 years

In the house of Mrs Brown Richmond St Thames

1034

27 January 1919

E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

No	3
Date of Notice	27 January 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Reid	Harriet Brown
	💍 1919/1154
Condition	Widower November 1917	Widow 19th July 1918
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	58	57
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	40 years	50 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs Brown Richmond St Thames
Folio	1034
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1919
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

15 February 1919

Anton Z'berg
Minnie Moyle

Anton Z'berg
Minnie Moyle
💍 1919/1155

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
20

Thames
Thames

6 months
6 months

Registrar Office Mary Street Thames

1035

Frederick Moyle (Father)

15 February 1919

E. M. Potts Deputy Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	15 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anton Z'berg	Minnie Moyle
	💍 1919/1155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar Office Mary Street Thames
Folio	1035
Consent	Frederick Moyle (Father)
Date of Certificate	15 February 1919
Officiating Minister	E. M. Potts Deputy Registrar

22 February 1919

Daniel Gollop
Alice Ward

Daniel Gollop
Alice Ward
💍 1919/1156

Widower 25th July 1917
Widow 18th April 1917

Labourer
Domestic duties

51
39

Thames
Thames

40 years
39 years

In the house of Mr Ward Karaka Creek Thames

1036

22 February 1919

E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

No	5
Date of Notice	22 February 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Gollop	Alice Ward
	💍 1919/1156
Condition	Widower 25th July 1917	Widow 18th April 1917
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	51	39
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	40 years	39 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mr Ward Karaka Creek Thames
Folio	1036
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1919
Officiating Minister	E. H. Taylor Church of Christ

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).