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 1009

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

2 May 1923

William Allan Low
Freda Isabel Clark

William Allan Low
Freda Isabel Clark
💍 1923/8765

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

28
24

Puriri
Puriri

3 days
24 years

St. Georges Church, Thames

4149

2 May 1923

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	2 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Allan Low	Freda Isabel Clark
	💍 1923/8765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Thames
Folio	4149
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

6 May 1923

Charles Raymond Briggs
Isabel Constance Hudson

Charles Raymond Briggs
Isabel Constance Hudson
💍 1923/8764

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
Home Duties

31
29

Kopuaraahi
Kopuaraahi

3 years
3 1/2 years

Schoolhouse, Kopuaraahi

4148

5 May 1923

Rev. D. C. Stewart, Presbyterian Missioner

No	28
Date of Notice	6 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Raymond Briggs	Isabel Constance Hudson
	💍 1923/8764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	Home Duties
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Kopuaraahi	Kopuaraahi
Length of Residence	3 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Schoolhouse, Kopuaraahi
Folio	4148
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. C. Stewart, Presbyterian Missioner

12 May 1923

James Maurice Edenborough
Dorothy Caroline Paley

James Maurice Edenborough
Dorothy Caroline Paley
💍 1923/8766

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
24

Kopuaraahi
Kopuaraahi

12 months
4 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

4150

12 May 1923

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	29
Date of Notice	12 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Maurice Edenborough	Dorothy Caroline Paley
	💍 1923/8766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Kopuaraahi	Kopuaraahi
Length of Residence	12 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	4150
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1923
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

14 May 1923

Archibald McConnell
Dulcie Vera Leach

Archibald McConnell
Dulcie Vera Leach
💍 1923/3432

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Turua
Turua

8 years
6 months

John McConnell's Residence, Turua

4151

14 May 1923

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	14 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald McConnell	Dulcie Vera Leach
	💍 1923/3432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	8 years	6 months
Marriage Place	John McConnell's Residence, Turua
Folio	4151
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

21 May 1923

Maurice William Dunbar
Annie Burke

Maurice William Dunbar
Annie Burke
💍 1923/3443

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotelkeeper
Domestic Duties

40
23

Thames
Thames

13 years
2 years

Residence of W. Dunbar, Beach Rd, Thames

4152

21 May 1923

Rev. Carroll, Roman Catholic

No	31
Date of Notice	21 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice William Dunbar	Annie Burke
	💍 1923/3443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotelkeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	13 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Dunbar, Beach Rd, Thames
Folio	4152
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Carroll, 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).