Intentions to Marry, 1923 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840514, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923c contains pages 895-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 911

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. M. H. [illegible]

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

9 January 1923

Athel Stanley Lamb
Ellen Grainey

Athol Stanley Lamb
Ellen Grainey
💍 1923/10341

Bachelor
Widow (21st December 1918)

Carrier
Domestic Duties

23
25

Rotorua
Rotorua

18 months
12 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1619

10 January 1923

John L. Crowther, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Athel Stanley Lamb	Ellen Grainey
BDM Match (97%)	Athol Stanley Lamb	Ellen Grainey
	💍 1923/10341
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (21st December 1918)
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	18 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1619
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1923
Officiating Minister	John L. Crowther, Registrar

31 January 1923

Henry Stewart Charles Green
Mary Annie Johnston

Henry Stewart Charles Green
Mary Annie Johnston
💍 1923/893

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Waitress

25
28

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 weeks
9 weeks

The Methodist Parsonage, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

1620

31 January 1923

Rev. P. Barley, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	31 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stewart Charles Green	Mary Annie Johnston
	💍 1923/893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Waitress
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 weeks	9 weeks
Marriage Place	The Methodist Parsonage, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	1620
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Barley, Methodist

8 February 1923

Charles William Schiavi
Kate Elizabeth Keill

Charles William Tchiavi
Kate Elizabeth Neill
💍 1923/894

Bachelor
Widow (24th October 1922)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
31

Mamaku
Mamaku

7 months
7 months

St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

1621

8 February 1923

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	8 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Schiavi	Kate Elizabeth Keill
BDM Match (95%)	Charles William Tchiavi	Kate Elizabeth Neill
	💍 1923/894
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (24th October 1922)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	31
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	7 months	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	1621
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

8 February 1923

Herbert Hazeldene Thomas
Blanche Barbara Maidens

Herbert Hazeldene Thomas
Blanche Barbara Maidens
💍 1923/896

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Cook

21
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

9 months
18 months

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1622

8 February 1923

John L. Crowther, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	8 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Hazeldene Thomas	Blanche Barbara Maidens
	💍 1923/896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Cook
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	9 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1622
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1923
Officiating Minister	John L. Crowther, Registrar

12 February 1923

Alfred Harold Basre
Elsie Mildred La Trobe

Alfred Harold Easte
Elsie Mildred La Trobe
💍 1923/897

Divorced (Decree Absolute 24th February 1921)
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

47
33

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua

1623

12 February 1923

Rev. A. C. Henderson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	12 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Harold Basre	Elsie Mildred La Trobe
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Harold Easte	Elsie Mildred La Trobe
	💍 1923/897
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 24th February 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	47	33
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua
Folio	1623
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Henderson, Presbyterian

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).