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 1293

District of Patea Quarter ending 31 December 1924 Registrar P. O'Shea

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

13 September 1924

Victor Hannah
Grace Eileen Locker

Victor Hannah
Grace Eileen Locker
💍 1924/5247

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

28
23

Hurleyville
Hurleyville

4 days
20 years

Hurleyville Public Hall

13 September 1924

Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	13 September 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Hannah	Grace Eileen Locker
	💍 1924/5247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Hurleyville
Length of Residence	4 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Hurleyville Public Hall
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

10 October 1924

James William Williams
Florence Kennedy Crawford

James William Williams
Florence Kennedy Crawford
💍 1924/7150

Widower
Spinster

Carrier
Nurse

40
29

Patea
Whenuakura

All life
9 years

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Patea

9468

10 October 1924

Rev. E. Thelan, Roman Catholic

No	19
Date of Notice	10 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Williams	Florence Kennedy Crawford
	💍 1924/7150
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Nurse
Age	40	29
Dwelling Place	Patea	Whenuakura
Length of Residence	All life	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, Patea
Folio	9468
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. Thelan, Roman Catholic

13 October 1924

Henry Bruce Morison
Harriet Blanche Tarrant

Henry Bruce Morison
Harriet Blanche Tarrant
💍 1924/7151

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank clerk
Domestic duties

36
25

Kakaramea
Kakaramea

4 days
1 month

Knox Presbyterian Church, Patea

9469

13 October 1924

Rev. J. Orange, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	13 October 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bruce Morison	Harriet Blanche Tarrant
	💍 1924/7151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank clerk	Domestic duties
Age	36	25
Dwelling Place	Kakaramea	Kakaramea
Length of Residence	4 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Knox Presbyterian Church, Patea
Folio	9469
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Orange, Presbyterian

1 November 1924

John Charlton Neilson
Dora Sargeant Locker

John Charlton Neilson
Dora Sergeant Locker
💍 1924/7152

Divorced (Decree absolute 5 March 1914)
Spinster

Blacksmith
Clerk

42
29

Patea
Patea

All life
All life

Methodist Church, Clifford Street, Patea

9470

1 November 1924

Rev. J. W. Bayliss, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	1 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charlton Neilson	Dora Sargeant Locker
BDM Match (98%)	John Charlton Neilson	Dora Sergeant Locker
	💍 1924/7152
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 5 March 1914)	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Clerk
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	All life	All life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Clifford Street, Patea
Folio	9470
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Bayliss, Methodist

11 November 1924

John Hamilton McNeill
Ethel Byrd Vickery Tail

John Hamilton McNeill
Ethel Byrl Vickery Tait
💍 1924/7153

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

26
21

Patea
Patea

3 days
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Patea

9471

11 November 1924

Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	11 November 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton McNeill	Ethel Byrd Vickery Tail
BDM Match (96%)	John Hamilton McNeill	Ethel Byrl Vickery Tait
	💍 1924/7153
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Patea
Folio	9471
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Brown, Presbyterian

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).