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 1321

District of Waitara Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar W. W. Barnard

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

6 April 1923

Humphrey Oliver Glanville Southwell
Rita Varey Pennington

Humphrey Oliver Glanville Southwell
Rita Varey Pennington
💍 1923/8997

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

24
21

Waitara
Waitara

3 years
13 years

Church of England at Waitara

4358

6 April 1923

Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	6 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Humphrey Oliver Glanville Southwell	Rita Varey Pennington
	💍 1923/8997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waitara
Folio	4358
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

27 April 1923

Herbert Horace Raven
Mary Archer Radford

Herbert Horace Raven
Mary Archer Radford
💍 1923/8998

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Household duties

23
23

Mokau River
Waitara

5 years
4 days

Church of England at Waitara

4359

27 April 1923

Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	27 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Horace Raven	Mary Archer Radford
	💍 1923/8998
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Household duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Mokau River	Waitara
Length of Residence	5 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England at Waitara
Folio	4359
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

11 May 1923

Harland Lewis Taylor
Annie Isabella Wakely

Harland Lewis Taylor
Annie Isabella Wakely
💍 1923/8975

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
23

Urenui
Waitara

15 years
14 years

Methodist Church at Waitara

4360

11 May 1923

Rev. W. W. Avery, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	11 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harland Lewis Taylor	Annie Isabella Wakely
	💍 1923/8975
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Urenui	Waitara
Length of Residence	15 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Waitara
Folio	4360
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Avery, Methodist

30 May 1923

John Alexander Pattie
Annie Clara Woisin

John Alexander Pattie
Annie Clara Woisin
💍 1923/8976

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
29

Matata
Waitara

13 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church at Waitara

4361

30 May 1923

Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	30 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Pattie	Annie Clara Woisin
	💍 1923/8976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Matata	Waitara
Length of Residence	13 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Waitara
Folio	4361
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

5 June 1923

James Cotter
Mary Taiaka
Taiaki x Correct surname is "Taiaka" (mr Gladstone)

James Cotter
Mary Taiaka
💍 1923/9622

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

24
18

Onaero
Onaero

2 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church

5241

Taiaki Ngamate, Father

5 June 1923

Dean McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	5 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cotter	Mary Taiaka Taiaki x Correct surname is "Taiaka" (mr Gladstone)
	💍 1923/9622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Onaero	Onaero
Length of Residence	2 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	5241
Consent	Taiaki Ngamate, Father
Date of Certificate	5 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Dean McKenna, 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).