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 921

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1919 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

4 December 1919

Basil Francis Hooker Pulford
Margaret Agnes Bruce McCormack

Basil Frank Hooker Pulford
Margaret Agnes Bruce McCormick
💍 1919/8710

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
23

Thames
Thames

1 month
20 years

House of Mr Pulford Sandes Road Thames

8393

4 December 1919

Rev Milne

No	44
Date of Notice	4 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Francis Hooker Pulford	Margaret Agnes Bruce McCormack
BDM Match (93%)	Basil Frank Hooker Pulford	Margaret Agnes Bruce McCormick
	💍 1919/8710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 month	20 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr Pulford Sandes Road Thames
Folio	8393
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Milne

5 December 1919

Harold Henry Morey
Margaret Rea Campbell

Harold Henry Storey
Margaret Rea Campbell
💍 1919/8712

Bachelor
Spinster

Student and Surgical Appliance maker
Nurse

29
29

Rotorua
Teawamutu

2 days
14 days

St Georges Church Thames

8394

11 December 1919

Rev A. J. Beck

No	45
Date of Notice	5 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Henry Morey	Margaret Rea Campbell
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Henry Storey	Margaret Rea Campbell
	💍 1919/8712
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Student and Surgical Appliance maker	Nurse
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Teawamutu
Length of Residence	2 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St Georges Church Thames
Folio	8394
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck

13 December 1919

James Francis Crocker
Doris Marion Shutt

James Frank Crocker
Doris Marion Skutt
💍 1919/8713

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Domestic Duties

22
22

Turua
Turua

12 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church Turua

8395

13 December 1919

Rev J. B. Dobson

No	46
Date of Notice	13 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Crocker	Doris Marion Shutt
BDM Match (90%)	James Frank Crocker	Doris Marion Skutt
	💍 1919/8713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Turua
Folio	8395
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. B. Dobson

20 December 1919

Benjamin Dunn
Salome Margaret Preece

Benjamin Dunn
Salome Margaret Preece
💍 1919/9765

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
28

Thames
Thames

3 days
28 years

Registrars Office Thames

8399

20 December 1919

H. R. Bush Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	20 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Dunn	Salome Margaret Preece
	💍 1919/9765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Thames
Folio	8399
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1919
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush Registrar

20 December 1919

John William Gillham
Emma Batten

John William Gwilliam
Emma Batten
💍 1919/8714

Widower
Widow

Carrier
Domestic

62
59

Thames
Thames

49 years
47 years

residence of bridegroom 47 Queen Street Thames

8396

20 December 1919

Rev Milne

No	48
Date of Notice	20 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Gillham	Emma Batten
BDM Match (95%)	John William Gwilliam	Emma Batten
	💍 1919/8714
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	62	59
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	49 years	47 years
Marriage Place	residence of bridegroom 47 Queen Street Thames
Folio	8396
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Milne

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).