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 914

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

23 April 1919

Arthur Roland Douglas
Ivy Stretton

Arthur Roland Douglas
Ivy Stretton
💍 1919/3213

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

5 days
5 years

Waitakaruru Public Hall

3072

23 April 1919

Rev E. Cox, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	23 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Roland Douglas	Ivy Stretton
	💍 1919/3213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Waitakaruru Public Hall
Folio	3072
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev E. Cox, Methodist

26 April 1919

John Major Melvor
Annie Rebecca McLeay

John Major Milner
Annie Rebecca McLeay
💍 1919/3214

Bachelor
Spinster

Boilermaker
Domestic Duties

38
41

Thames
Thames

3 years
4 years

In the house of Mrs McLeay Beach Road Thames

3073

26 April 1919

Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	26 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Major Melvor	Annie Rebecca McLeay
BDM Match (91%)	John Major Milner	Annie Rebecca McLeay
	💍 1919/3214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boilermaker	Domestic Duties
Age	38	41
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	In the house of Mrs McLeay Beach Road Thames
Folio	3073
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Milne, Presbyterian

30 April 1919

George Thomas Waldmann
Jane Mills

George Thomas Waldmann
Jane Mills
💍 1919/3297

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
25

Thames
Thames

3 days
5 years

St Georges Church, Thames

3074

30 April 1919

A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	30 April 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Thomas Waldmann	Jane Mills
	💍 1919/3297
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	3074
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1919
Officiating Minister	A. J. Beck, Church of England

14 May 1919

George Henry Twidle
Amy Elizabeth Heald

George Henry Twidle
Amy Elizabeth Heald
💍 1919/3308

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Domestic servant

34
19

Thames
Thames

1 month
2 months

Registrars office Thames

3075

John Heald, father

14 May 1919

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	14 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Twidle	Amy Elizabeth Heald
	💍 1919/3308
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Domestic servant
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 month	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrars office Thames
Folio	3075
Consent	John Heald, father
Date of Certificate	14 May 1919
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

15 May 1919

Ernest Harold Potter
Muriel Annie Durbin

Ernest Harold Potter
Muriel Annie Durbin
💍 1919/3314

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

21
22

Thames
Thames

5 days
5 days

Dwelling of Rev Milne Thames

3076

15 May 1919

Rev Milne, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	15 May 1919
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harold Potter	Muriel Annie Durbin
	💍 1919/3314
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Rev Milne Thames
Folio	3076
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 May 1919
Officiating Minister	Rev Milne, Presbyterian

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).