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 1019

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 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

10 December 1923

Albert French
Annie Myrtle Polton

Albert French
Annie Myrtle Polton
💍 1923/6963

Widower (Date of Decease former wife 21 November 1921)
Spinster

Draper
Drapers Assistant

37
24

Rotorua
Thames

3 years
4 days

St. Georges Church, Thames

9058

10 December 1923

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	70
Date of Notice	10 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert French	Annie Myrtle Polton
	💍 1923/6963
Condition	Widower (Date of Decease former wife 21 November 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Draper	Drapers Assistant
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church, Thames
Folio	9058
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

10 December 1923

William Buchanan
Madge Hazel Macdonald

William Buchanan
Madge Hazel Macdonald
💍 1923/6964

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

28
25

Kaihere
Kaihere

3 months
10 years

Residence of Mr. A. B. Macdonald, Kaihere

9059

10 December 1923

Rev. J. M. Beaufort, Church of England

No	71
Date of Notice	10 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Buchanan	Madge Hazel Macdonald
	💍 1923/6964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Kaihere	Kaihere
Length of Residence	3 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. B. Macdonald, Kaihere
Folio	9059
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Beaufort, Church of England

12 December 1923

Richard Herbert Lloyd
Helen McDonald Newland

Richard Herbert Lloyd
Helen McDonald Newland
💍 1923/6941

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
20

Matatoke
Kopu

10 years
20 years

St. James Church, Thames

9060

John Frederick George Newland, father

12 December 1923

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	12 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Herbert Lloyd	Helen McDonald Newland
	💍 1923/6941
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Matatoke	Kopu
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. James Church, Thames
Folio	9060
Consent	John Frederick George Newland, father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

14 December 1923

John McComell
Ethel May Treadaway

John McConnell
Ethel May Treadaway
💍 1924/7859

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
27

Ngatea
Turua

30 years
10 years

Church of England, Turua

14 December 1923

Rev. Beaufort, Church of England

No	73
Date of Notice	14 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McComell	Ethel May Treadaway
BDM Match (93%)	John McConnell	Ethel May Treadaway
	💍 1924/7859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Turua
Length of Residence	30 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Turua
Folio	65
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beaufort, Church of England

24 December 1923

Albert George Sunn
Muriel Violet Murdock

Albert George Innis
Muriel Violet Murdock
💍 1924/7860

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
23

Wharepoa
Hikutaia

23 years
4 years

Church of England, Hikutaia

24 December 1923

Rev. Dobson, Church of England

No	74
Date of Notice	24 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Sunn	Muriel Violet Murdock
BDM Match (89%)	Albert George Innis	Muriel Violet Murdock
	💍 1924/7860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wharepoa	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hikutaia
Folio	66
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dobson, Church of England

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).