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 1271

District of Waimate Plains Quarter ending 30 September 1922 Registrar J. W. Collier

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

29 July 1922

Arthur George Jones
Daphne Daisy Bell Leel

Arthur George Jones
Daphne Daisy Bell Leel
💍 1922/8788

Bachelor
Widow (7 February 1919)

Farmer
Domestic

26
26

Kaupokonui
Wellington

8 years
6 years

The Manse, Manaia

6308

29 July 1922

Rev. J. D. Smith, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	29 July 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur George Jones	Daphne Daisy Bell Leel
	💍 1922/8788
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (7 February 1919)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Kaupokonui	Wellington
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Manaia
Folio	6308
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Smith, Presbyterian

15 August 1922

Harry Syndmans
Mavis Kate Bennett

Harry Symmans
Mavis Kate Bennett
💍 1922/8789

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
21

Manaia
Kaupokonui

5 years
9 years

Methodist Church, Manaia

6309

15 August 1922

Rev. H. Odell, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	15 August 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Syndmans	Mavis Kate Bennett
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Symmans	Mavis Kate Bennett
	💍 1922/8789
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Kaupokonui
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manaia
Folio	6309
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Odell, Methodist

5 September 1922

Albert Edward West
Winifred Kathleen Gilbert

Albert Edward West
Winifred Kathleen Gilbert
💍 1922/8766

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Household duties

20
17

Manaia
Manaia

9 months
6 years

Dwelling of Bride, Manaia

6310

John Gilbert, father

21 September 1922

Rev. R. E. Fordyce, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	5 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edward West	Winifred Kathleen Gilbert
	💍 1922/8766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Household duties
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	9 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Bride, Manaia
Folio	6310
Consent	John Gilbert, father
Date of Certificate	21 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. E. Fordyce, Methodist

11 September 1922

Herbert Maurice Dodds
Christine Marie Doyle

Herbert Maurice Dodd
Christine Marie Doyle
💍 1922/8767

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Household duties

34
28

Manaia
Manaia

6 months
1 year

Sacred Heart Church, Manaia

6311

11 September 1922

Rev. J. Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	11 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Maurice Dodds	Christine Marie Doyle
BDM Match (98%)	Herbert Maurice Dodd	Christine Marie Doyle
	💍 1922/8767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Household duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Manaia	Manaia
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Manaia
Folio	6311
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Kelly, Roman Catholic

21 September 1922

Claude Smith Martin
Eileen Blanche Sharp

Claude Smith Martin
Eileen Blanche Sharp
💍 1922/8768

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese factory assistant
Domestic

24
23

Normanby
Inaha

2 months
3 weeks

Church of England, Normanby

6312

21 September 1922

Rev. A. C. Swainson, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	21 September 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Smith Martin	Eileen Blanche Sharp
	💍 1922/8768
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese factory assistant	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Inaha
Length of Residence	2 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Normanby
Folio	6312
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Swainson, 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).