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 1013

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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 August 1923

Walter John Douglas Johnson
Viva Dorine McDuff

Walter John Douglas Johnson
Viva Dorine McDuff
💍 1923/4241

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Assistant
Domestic Duties

20 years
19 years

Ngatea
Ngatea

3 years
5 years

Residence of William Mc Duff, Ngatea

6516

William Mc Duff and Walter Robert George Johnson, Fathers

9 August 1923

Rev. Stewart, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	9 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Douglas Johnson	Viva Dorine McDuff
	💍 1923/4241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	20 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Mc Duff, Ngatea
Folio	6516
Consent	William Mc Duff and Walter Robert George Johnson, Fathers
Date of Certificate	9 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stewart, Presbyterian

10 August 1923

William Gray
Ivy Winifred May Appleby

William Gray
Ivy Winifred May Appleby
💍 1923/4242

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic

28 years
25 years

Pipiroa
Pipiroa

12 months
12 months

St. James Church, Thames

6517

10 August 1923

J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	10 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gray	Ivy Winifred May Appleby
	💍 1923/4242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Pipiroa	Pipiroa
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Thames
Folio	6517
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Milne, Presbyterian

14 August 1923

Lachlan Campbell
Ruby Emma Ball

Lachlan Campbell
Ruby Emma Ball
💍 1923/4244

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Typist

28 years
23 years

Thames
Thames

1 day
4 weeks

St. George's Church, Thames

6518

14 August 1923

A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	14 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lachlan Campbell	Ruby Emma Ball
	💍 1923/4244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Typist
Age	28 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 day	4 weeks
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	6518
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 August 1923
Officiating Minister	A. J. Beck, Church of England

18 August 1923

Richard Dudley Ward
Ida Isabel Johnston

Richard Dudley Ward
Ida Isabel Johnston
💍 1923/4245

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolmaster
Schoolteacher

27 years
23 years

Waipiro Bay
Thames

3 days
3 years

St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames

6519

18 August 1923

James Milne, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	18 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Dudley Ward	Ida Isabel Johnston
	💍 1923/4245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolmaster	Schoolteacher
Age	27 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Waipiro Bay	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	6519
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1923
Officiating Minister	James Milne, Presbyterian

18 August 1923

Albert Francis Clarke
Ivy Catherine Annie Lanning

Albert Francis Clarke
Ivy Catherine Annie Lanning
💍 1923/4246

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Dressmaker

20 years
18 years

Omahu
Thames

3 years
18 years

Residence of T. Lanning, Haven Street, Thames

6520

Thomas Henry Lanning and George Fredrick Clarke, Fathers

18 August 1923

Rev. Lambert, Baptist

No	50
Date of Notice	18 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Francis Clarke	Ivy Catherine Annie Lanning
	💍 1923/4246
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Dressmaker
Age	20 years	18 years
Dwelling Place	Omahu	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of T. Lanning, Haven Street, Thames
Folio	6520
Consent	Thomas Henry Lanning and George Fredrick Clarke, Fathers
Date of Certificate	18 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lambert, Baptist

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).