Intentions to Marry, 1924 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840522, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924c contains pages 907-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1035

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar H. S. 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

4 July 1924

Daniel Roy Fisher
Annie Oakley

Daniel Roy Fisher
Annie Oakley
💍 1924/5898

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Housemaid

28
18

Thames
Thames

28 years
2 years

Registrar's office, Thames

7729

William Smith Oakley, father

4 July 1924

H. S. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	34
Date of Notice	4 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Roy Fisher	Annie Oakley
	💍 1924/5898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Housemaid
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Thames
Folio	7729
Consent	William Smith Oakley, father
Date of Certificate	4 July 1924
Officiating Minister	H. S. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

12 July 1924

Arthur James Webster
Edith Helen Baligate

Arthur James Webster
Edith Helen Bathgate
💍 1924/5193

Bachelor
Spinster

Photographer
Domestic Duties

36
33

Thames
Thames

4 years
7 months

Residence of Mrs S. Baligate, Baillie Street, Thames

6782

12 July 1924

Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	12 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Webster	Edith Helen Baligate
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur James Webster	Edith Helen Bathgate
	💍 1924/5193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs S. Baligate, Baillie Street, Thames
Folio	6782
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

15 August 1924

Thomas Bayldou
Olive Myra Baker

Thomas Bayldon
Olive Myra Baker
💍 1924/5194

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Household Duties

32
31

Thames
Thames

5 years
31 years

St Georges Church, Thames

6783

15 August 1924

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	15 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Bayldou	Olive Myra Baker
BDM Match (96%)	Thomas Bayldon	Olive Myra Baker
	💍 1924/5194
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Household Duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	31 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	6783
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

18 August 1924

Reginald McIntyre
Reta Avelia McDuff

Reginald McIntyre
Reta Avelia McDuff
💍 1924/5195

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

29
21

Kiwitahi
Ngatea

3 days
22 years

Dwelling of William McDuff, Ngatea

6784

18 August 1924

Rev. D. E. Stewart, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	18 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald McIntyre	Reta Avelia McDuff
	💍 1924/5195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Ngatea
Length of Residence	3 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William McDuff, Ngatea
Folio	6784
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. E. Stewart, Presbyterian

27 August 1924

John Clarence Mutton
Elizabeth Blustria Smith

John Clarence Mutton
Elizabeth Christina Smith
💍 1924/5172

Bachelor
Spinster

Drapers assistant
Household Duties

27
30

Thames
Thames

27 years
30 years

Church of Christ, Thames

6785

27 August 1924

Rev. H. Langford, Church of Christ

No	38
Date of Notice	27 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clarence Mutton	Elizabeth Blustria Smith
BDM Match (88%)	John Clarence Mutton	Elizabeth Christina Smith
	💍 1924/5172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drapers assistant	Household Duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Thames
Folio	6785
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Langford, Church of Christ

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).