Intentions to Marry, 1925 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840529, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925b contains pages 461-924, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 797

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. H. Curnow

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

1 July 1925

Joseph Cyril Main
Patricia Maud Ganley

Joseph Cyril Main
Patricia Maud Ganley
💍 1925/6630

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

28
24

Kiwitahi
Kiwitahi

3 years
13 years

Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville

6606

1 July 1925

Rev. Father Ryan

No	16
Date of Notice	1 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Cyril Main	Patricia Maud Ganley
	💍 1925/6630
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Kiwitahi
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville
Folio	6606
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Ryan

7 July 1925

George Richard Parsons
Theresa Veronica Main

George Richard Parsons
Theresa Veronica Main
💍 1925/6631

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
19

Kiwitahi
Kiwitahi

3 1/2 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville

6607

Albert Theodore Main, father

7 July 1925

Rev. Father Ryan

No	17
Date of Notice	7 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Richard Parsons	Theresa Veronica Main
	💍 1925/6631
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	19
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Kiwitahi
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville
Folio	6607
Consent	Albert Theodore Main, father
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Ryan

10 July 1925

Samuel Elliott
Alfreda Kate Gzole

Samuel Elliott
Alfreda Kate Gyde
💍 1925/6632

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
27

Tatuanui
Tatuanui

7 years
2 years

Church of England, Morrinsville

6608

10 July 1925

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne

No	18
Date of Notice	10 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Elliott	Alfreda Kate Gzole
BDM Match (92%)	Samuel Elliott	Alfreda Kate Gyde
	💍 1925/6632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	Tatuanui	Tatuanui
Length of Residence	7 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Morrinsville
Folio	6608
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne

16 July 1925

Charles William Hudson
Ethel Irene Agnes Seed

Charles William Hudson
Ethel Irene Agnes Seed
💍 1925/6633

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
25

Ngarua
Ngarua

3 months
8 years

Methodist Church, Morrinsville

6609

16 July 1925

Rev. Sage

No	19
Date of Notice	16 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Hudson	Ethel Irene Agnes Seed
	💍 1925/6633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Ngarua	Ngarua
Length of Residence	3 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Morrinsville
Folio	6609
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Sage

17 August 1925

Edward Pearce Norman Ball
Alfreda Ellen Buckland

Edward Pearce Norman Bell
Alfreda Ellen Buckland
💍 1925/6610

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
21

Tatuanui
Morrinsville

1 week
4 months

Church of England, Morrinsville

6610

17 August 1925

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne

No	20
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Pearce Norman Ball	Alfreda Ellen Buckland
BDM Match (98%)	Edward Pearce Norman Bell	Alfreda Ellen Buckland
	💍 1925/6610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Tatuanui	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	1 week	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Morrinsville
Folio	6610
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).