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 924

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar J. L. Crowther

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 February 1924

Martin Commons
May Violet Linkins

Martin Commons
May Violet Linkins
💍 1924/9827

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

27
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 Days
6 Days

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1509

4 February 1924

J. L. Crowther, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	4 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Commons	May Violet Linkins
	💍 1924/9827
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 Days	6 Days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1509
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1924
Officiating Minister	J. L. Crowther, Registrar

15 February 1924

Christopher William Gosling
Margaret Agatha McSnath

Christopher William Gosling
Margaret Agatha McGrath
💍 1924/3253

Bachelor
Widow

Sawmill Hand
Chef

35
33

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 Months
2 Years 8 Months

Methodist Church, Rotorua

1510

15 February 1924

Rev. J. Wrigley, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	15 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christopher William Gosling	Margaret Agatha McSnath
BDM Match (96%)	Christopher William Gosling	Margaret Agatha McGrath
	💍 1924/3253
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sawmill Hand	Chef
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 Months	2 Years 8 Months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Rotorua
Folio	1510
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wrigley, Methodist

23 February 1924

James Warren Gilmour
Edith Wild

James Warren Gilmour
Edith Wild
💍 1924/9806

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Teacher of Music

39
36

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 Years
3 Weeks

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1511

23 February 1924

J. L. Crowther, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	23 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Warren Gilmour	Edith Wild
	💍 1924/9806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Teacher of Music
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 Years	3 Weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1511
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1924
Officiating Minister	J. L. Crowther, Registrar

6 March 1924

John Deacon
Alice Elizabeth Butt

John Deacon
Alice Elizabeth Butt
💍 1924/9807

Bachelor
Spinster

Proprietor Billiard Room
Domestic Duties

32
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 Years
6 Months

St John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

1512

6 March 1924

Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	6 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Deacon	Alice Elizabeth Butt
	💍 1924/9807
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Proprietor Billiard Room	Domestic Duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 Years	6 Months
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	1512
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

24 March 1924

Allen Kilgour Bennett
Mary Jane Scott

Allen Kilgour Bennett
Mary Jane Scott
💍 1924/9808

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Waitress

26
19

Mamaku
Mamaku

10 Years
12 Months

The Methodist Church, Mamaku

1513

William Scott, father

24 March 1924

Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Kilgour Bennett	Mary Jane Scott
	💍 1924/9808
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Waitress
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	10 Years	12 Months
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church, Mamaku
Folio	1513
Consent	William Scott, father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Randerson, 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).