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 918

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar H. C. Bowman

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 November 1923

John Lowry Smith
Jean McLuckie

John Lowry Smith
Jean McLuckie
💍 1923/5309

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic Duties

23
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

12 months
12 months

The Methodist Parsonage, Kaupapa Street, Rotorua

9002

2 November 1923

Rev. James Wrigley, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	2 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lowry Smith	Jean McLuckie
	💍 1923/5309
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	The Methodist Parsonage, Kaupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	9002
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Wrigley, Methodist

7 December 1923

William Joseph Gillett
Nellie Monk

William Joseph Gillett
Nellie Monk
💍 1923/5298

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

10 months
2 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

9003

7 December 1923

Rev. A. B. Anderson, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	7 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Gillett	Nellie Monk
	💍 1923/5298
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	10 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	9003
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Anderson, Presbyterian

7 December 1923

Arthur Ernest Evans
May Unsworth

Arthur Ernest Evans
May Unsworth
💍 1923/5305

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
22

Ngongotaha
Ngongotaha

7 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

9004

7 December 1923

J. Vincent Brooks, Deputy Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	7 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ernest Evans	May Unsworth
	💍 1923/5305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Ngongotaha	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	9004
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Vincent Brooks, Deputy Registrar

10 December 1923

William Grant
Olive Blanche Robinson

William Grant
Olive Blanche Robinson
💍 1923/5306

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic Duties

36
29

Ngongotaha
Ngongotaha

2 years
9 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

9005

10 December 1923

Rev. Archdeacon H. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	10 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Grant	Olive Blanche Robinson
	💍 1923/5306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic Duties
Age	36	29
Dwelling Place	Ngongotaha	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	2 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	9005
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon H. W. Chatterton, Church of England

8 December 1923

Harry Keeling
Eva Becalia Mabel Davies

Harry Keeling
Eva Cecilia Mabel Davies
💍 1923/7713

Divorced (Decree Absolute 7 April 1921)
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic Duties

36
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

9 months
2 months

Church of England, Ohinemutu, near Rotorua

10015

18 December 1923

Rev. Paul Temuera, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	8 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Keeling	Eva Becalia Mabel Davies
BDM Match (96%)	Harry Keeling	Eva Cecilia Mabel Davies
	💍 1923/7713
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 7 April 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	9 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ohinemutu, near Rotorua
Folio	10015
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paul Temuera, 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).