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 915

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar H. Brownlee

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 July 1923

George Smith
Sarah Martha Barrer

George Smith
Sarah Martha Carter
💍 1923/3752

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

43
50

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 months
11 weeks

St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

6460

9 July 1923

Rev. Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	9 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith	Sarah Martha Barrer
BDM Match (95%)	George Smith	Sarah Martha Carter
	💍 1923/3752
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	50
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 months	11 weeks
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	6460
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

14 July 1923

Edward Wilson
Jessie Williamina Eva Badger

Edward Wilson
Jessie Williamina Eva Rodger
💍 1923/3753

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage Proprietor
Domestic Duties

28
18

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 years
18 months

Hamilton House, Rotorua

6461

James Badger, Father

14 July 1923

Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	14 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Wilson	Jessie Williamina Eva Badger
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Wilson	Jessie Williamina Eva Rodger
	💍 1923/3753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Hamilton House, Rotorua
Folio	6461
Consent	James Badger, Father
Date of Certificate	14 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

19 July 1923

David Alexander Craigie
Nora Meiklejohn

David Alexander Craigie
Nora Meiklejohn
💍 1923/3754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Mistress

26
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 1/2 years
3 years

The Manse, Pukuarua Street, Rotorua

6462

19 July 1923

Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	19 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alexander Craigie	Nora Meiklejohn
	💍 1923/3754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Mistress
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Pukuarua Street, Rotorua
Folio	6462
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

6 August 1923

Thomas Collins McDowell
Mary Alice Mellor

Thomas Collins McDowell
Mary Alice Mellor
💍 1923/3755

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

13 years
12 months

The Residence of Mr George McDowell, Fenton Street, Rotorua

6463

George McDowell, Father

6 August 1923

Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	6 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Collins McDowell	Mary Alice Mellor
	💍 1923/3755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	13 years	12 months
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mr George McDowell, Fenton Street, Rotorua
Folio	6463
Consent	George McDowell, Father
Date of Certificate	6 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Bander, Presbyterian

31 August 1923

Colin Borthwick Angove
Hannah Lugg

Colin Borthwick Angove
Hannah Lugg
💍 1923/3756

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

42
38

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 years
3 weeks

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

6464

31 August 1923

G. L. Browther, Registrar

No	23
Date of Notice	31 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Borthwick Angove	Hannah Lugg
	💍 1923/3756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	42	38
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	6464
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1923
Officiating Minister	G. L. Browther, Registrar

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).