Intentions to Marry, 1922 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840506, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1922c contains pages 877-1290, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 991

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1922 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

1 January 1922

David Walter Buckthought
Lillian Myrtle Strong

David Walter Buckthought
Lillian Myrtle Strong
💍 1922/1752

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Thames
Thames

3 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Thames

1524

1 January 1922

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Walter Buckthought	Lillian Myrtle Strong
	💍 1922/1752
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	1524
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

10 January 1922

Theodore Montague Bregmen
Pearl Vermillion Stevenson

Theodore Montague Bregmer
Pearl Vermillion Stevenson
💍 1922/1753

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop assistant

30 years
20 years

Rangiriri
Thames

30 years
20 years

Church of Christ, Thames

1525

Robert Stevenson, father

10 January 1922

Rev. C. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Montague Bregmen	Pearl Vermillion Stevenson
BDM Match (98%)	Theodore Montague Bregmer	Pearl Vermillion Stevenson
	💍 1922/1753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop assistant
Age	30 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	Rangiriri	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Thames
Folio	1525
Consent	Robert Stevenson, father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Taylor, Church of Christ

19 January 1922

George Edward Hays
Alice Helen Malleson

George Edward Hays
Alice Helen Matheson
💍 1922/1761

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal clerk
Dressmaker

22
21

Thames
Dwelling of H. S. Malleson, Sandes Street, Thames

22 years
21 years

Dwelling of H. S. Malleson, Sandes Street, Thames

1526

19 January 1922

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Hays	Alice Helen Malleson
BDM Match (95%)	George Edward Hays	Alice Helen Matheson
	💍 1922/1761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal clerk	Dressmaker
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Dwelling of H. S. Malleson, Sandes Street, Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of H. S. Malleson, Sandes Street, Thames
Folio	1526
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

19 January 1922

Robert Martin Moorcraft
Constance Cecily Smith

Robert Martin Moorcraft
Constance Cecily Smith
💍 1922/1772

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
19

Puriri, Thames
Thames

6 years
5 years

St. George Church, Thames

1527

Reginald Dennis Smith, father

2 February 1922

Rev. Bessie A. [illegible], Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	19 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Martin Moorcraft	Constance Cecily Smith
	💍 1922/1772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Puriri, Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. George Church, Thames
Folio	1527
Consent	Reginald Dennis Smith, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Bessie A. [illegible], Church of England

2 February 1922

Francis John Nettleingham
Fanny Eyes

Francis John Nettleingham
Fanny Lyes
💍 1922/1779

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
23

Patetonga
Thames

2 years
23 years

St. George Church, Thames

1528

2 February 1922

Rev. Mair, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	2 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis John Nettleingham	Fanny Eyes
BDM Match (95%)	Francis John Nettleingham	Fanny Lyes
	💍 1922/1779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Patetonga	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. George Church, Thames
Folio	1528
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mair, Church of England

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).