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 1007

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1923 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

9 April 1923

Reginald Charles Cox
Jessie Shepherd McCollum

Reginald Charles Cox
Jessie Shepherd McCollum
💍 1923/8753

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic

19
22

Totara, Thames
Queen Street, Thames

19
22

Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston St, Thames

4138

Charles Cox, Father

9 April 1923

James Milne, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	9 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Charles Cox	Jessie Shepherd McCollum
	💍 1923/8753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Totara, Thames	Queen Street, Thames
Length of Residence	19	22
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston St, Thames
Folio	4138
Consent	Charles Cox, Father
Date of Certificate	9 April 1923
Officiating Minister	James Milne, Presbyterian

10 April 1923

Alfred James Brien
Mary O'Callaghan

Alfred James Brien
Mary O'Callaghan
💍 1923/8754

Widower
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic

45
22

Thames
Thames

12 years
18 months

Dwelling of Mrs. Tooth, Javarv Rd, Thames

4139

10 April 1923

Rev. Lambert, Baptist

No	18
Date of Notice	10 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Brien	Mary O'Callaghan
	💍 1923/8754
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic
Age	45	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	18 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs. Tooth, Javarv Rd, Thames
Folio	4139
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lambert, Baptist

12 April 1923

Thomas Moore McCollum
Pherezia Davis

Thomas Moore McCollum
Theresia Davis
💍 1923/8755

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier & Coal Dealer
Domestic

30
36

Thames
Thames

4 years
36 years

Methodist Church, Thames

4140

12 April 1923

Rev. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	12 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moore McCollum	Pherezia Davis
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Moore McCollum	Theresia Davis
	💍 1923/8755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier & Coal Dealer	Domestic
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	4140
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Ashcroft, Methodist

14 April 1923

Peter Williams
May Ford

Peter Williams
May Ford
💍 1923/8756

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith's Striker
Dressmaker

28
24

Thames
Thames

13 years
16 years

St. Georges Church, Thames

4141

14 April 1923

Rev. Beck, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	14 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Williams	May Ford
	💍 1923/8756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith's Striker	Dressmaker
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Thames
Folio	4141
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beck, Church of England

17 April 1923

Harold John Daulton
Clara Isabell Bateman

Harold John Daulton
Clara Isabel Bateman
💍 1923/8757

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

27
23

Thames
Thames

7 months
23 years

St. Francis Church, Thames

4142

17 April 1923

Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	17 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold John Daulton	Clara Isabell Bateman
BDM Match (98%)	Harold John Daulton	Clara Isabel Bateman
	💍 1923/8757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 months	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	4142
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

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).