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 920

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

17 November 1919

Evan Justin Williams
Minnie Florence Castleton

Evan Justin Williams
Minnie Florence Castleton
💍 1919/8706

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
31

Turua
Turua

1 week
1 week

Registrars house

8389

17 November 1919

Rev Faulkner

No	39
Date of Notice	17 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan Justin Williams	Minnie Florence Castleton
	💍 1919/8706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrars house
Folio	8389
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Faulkner

20 November 1919

James Harold Fisher
Olive Pearson

James Harold Fisher
Olive Pearson
💍 1919/8707

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

34
25

Thames
Thames

34 years
25 years

Church of England Thames

8390

20 November 1919

Rev A. J. Beck

No	40
Date of Notice	20 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harold Fisher	Olive Pearson
	💍 1919/8707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	34 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Thames
Folio	8390
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck

24 November 1919

Albert James William Amos
Ruby Lillian Wells

Albert James William Amos
Ruby Lillian Wells
💍 1919/8708

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

26
23

Thames
Thames

3 days
23 years

St Georges Church Thames

8391

24 November 1919

Rev A. J. Beck

No	41
Date of Notice	24 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James William Amos	Ruby Lillian Wells
	💍 1919/8708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church Thames
Folio	8391
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Beck

28 November 1919

Charles Rainsford Barriball
Katherine Mary Longdill

Charles Rainsford Barriball
Catherine Mary Longdill
💍 1919/9788

Bachelor
Divorced 24 November 1919

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
26

Ngatea
Ngatea

5 months
3 months

Methodist Church Thames

8338

28 November 1919

Rev A. Mitchell

No	42
Date of Notice	28 November 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Rainsford Barriball	Katherine Mary Longdill
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Rainsford Barriball	Catherine Mary Longdill
	💍 1919/9788
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 24 November 1919
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	5 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thames
Folio	8338
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 November 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Mitchell

2 December 1919

Wilfred James Cox
Gladys Irene Avis Thomas

Wilfred James Cox
Gladys Irene Avis Thomas
💍 1919/8709

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Post Mistress

22
18

Puriri
Puriri

3 months
18 years

Dwelling of Alfred Morgan Richmond Street Thames

8392

Richard Berry Thomas

4 December 1919

Rev S. J. Taylor

No	43
Date of Notice	2 December 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred James Cox	Gladys Irene Avis Thomas
	💍 1919/8709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Post Mistress
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	3 months	18 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Alfred Morgan Richmond Street Thames
Folio	8392
Consent	Richard Berry Thomas
Date of Certificate	4 December 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev S. J. Taylor

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).