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 1213

District of Kaponga Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar J. Shearer

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 July 1924

Leslie Walter Davis
Mary Doris Kneebone

Leslie Walter Davis
Mary Doris Kneebone
💍 1924/2474

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Stratford
Matapu

2 weeks
3 years

Catholic church

6878

2 July 1924

Nicholas Moore, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	2 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Walter Davis	Mary Doris Kneebone
	💍 1924/2474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Matapu
Length of Residence	2 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	Catholic church
Folio	6878
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Nicholas Moore, Roman Catholic

11 July 1924

Harley Hector Henderson
Beatrice Marion Bennie

Harley Hector Henderson
Beatrice Marion Bennie
💍 1924/10845

Bachelor
Spinster

Business Manager
Domestic Duties

32
19

Kaponga
Kaponga

3 3/4 years
19 years

St Andrews Presbyterian church

6879

Elizabeth Ann Bennie, mother

11 July 1924

Henry Augustus Moore, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	11 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harley Hector Henderson	Beatrice Marion Bennie
	💍 1924/10845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Business Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Kaponga
Length of Residence	3 3/4 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian church
Folio	6879
Consent	Elizabeth Ann Bennie, mother
Date of Certificate	11 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Henry Augustus Moore, Presbyterian

14 July 1924

Alexander Shepherd
Gladys Isabella Roadling

Alexander Shepherd
Gladys Isabella Swadling
💍 1924/2475

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

35
29

Riverlea
Kaponga

4 years
20 years

The residence of W G Grant, Kaponga

6880

14 July 1924

Henry Augustus Moore, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	14 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Shepherd	Gladys Isabella Roadling
BDM Match (96%)	Alexander Shepherd	Gladys Isabella Swadling
	💍 1924/2475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Riverlea	Kaponga
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The residence of W G Grant, Kaponga
Folio	6880
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Henry Augustus Moore, Presbyterian

1 August 1924

Josef Chamberlain
Hilda Victoria Butler

Josef Chamberlain
Hilda Victoria Butler
💍 1924/10846

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
24

Rowan
Kaponga

12 years
3 months

Roman Catholic church

6881

1 August 1924

Nicholas Moore, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	1 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josef Chamberlain	Hilda Victoria Butler
	💍 1924/10846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Rowan	Kaponga
Length of Residence	12 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic church
Folio	6881
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Nicholas Moore, Roman Catholic

15 August 1924

Henry George Short
Elizabeth Louisa Revell

Henry George Short
Elizabeth Louisa Revell
💍 1924/10847

Divorced (Decree absolute 30/5/24)
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

28
24

Kaponga
Kaponga

5 days
5 years

Methodist church

6882

15 August 1924

Charles H Kendon, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	15 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Short	Elizabeth Louisa Revell
	💍 1924/10847
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 30/5/24)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Kaponga	Kaponga
Length of Residence	5 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist church
Folio	6882
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Charles H Kendon, Methodist

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).