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 1018

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

30 October 1923

Ernest Harrison
Henrietta Regina Thorn

Ernest Harrison
Henrietta Regina Thorn
💍 1923/6958

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Domestic Duties

28
26

Thames
Thames

4 days
2 weeks

Dwelling of Mr. W. Thorn, Karaka Road, Thames

9053

30 October 1923

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	30 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Harrison	Henrietta Regina Thorn
	💍 1923/6958
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. W. Thorn, Karaka Road, Thames
Folio	9053
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

1 November 1923

George Edward Perry
Alexandra Alexia Bennett

George Edward Perry
Alexandra Alexia Bennett
💍 1923/6959

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
19

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

2 1/2 years
7 years

Registry Office at Thames

9054

Rosetta Bennett, Mother

1 November 1923

H.R. Bush, Registrar

No	66
Date of Notice	1 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Perry	Alexandra Alexia Bennett
	💍 1923/6959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Registry Office at Thames
Folio	9054
Consent	Rosetta Bennett, Mother
Date of Certificate	1 November 1923
Officiating Minister	H.R. Bush, Registrar

9 November 1923

Thomas William George Howard Hammond
Ruby Grace Way

Thomas William George Howard Hammond
Ruby Grace Way
💍 1923/6960

Widower
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic Duties

54
25

Thames
Thames

27 years
25 years

Presbyterian Manse, Thames

9055

9 November 1923

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	67
Date of Notice	9 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William George Howard Hammond	Ruby Grace Way
	💍 1923/6960
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic Duties
Age	54	25
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Thames
Folio	9055
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

13 November 1923

Joseph Edward Cochrane
Jane Teresa Kearney

Joseph Edward Cochrane
Jane Theresa Kearney
💍 1923/6961

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Domestic

25
27

Thames
Thames

8 months
1 year

St. Frances Church, Thames

9056

15 November 1923

Father O'Carroll, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	13 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Cochrane	Jane Teresa Kearney
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Edward Cochrane	Jane Theresa Kearney
	💍 1923/6961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Domestic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 months	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Frances Church, Thames
Folio	9056
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Father O'Carroll, Roman Catholic

3 December 1923

William George Clark
Alice McCoid

William George Clark
Alice McCoid
💍 1923/6962

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
19

Turua
Turua

7 years
19 years

Residence of Mr Bertelsen, Ngatea

9057

18 December 1923

Rev. Beaufort, Church of England

No	69
Date of Notice	3 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Clark	Alice McCoid
	💍 1923/6962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	7 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Bertelsen, Ngatea
Folio	9057
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beaufort, 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).