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 913

District of Putaruru Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar J. Pearse

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

15 July 1925

Lancio Harold Greenhough
Lily Payne

Francis Harold Greenhough
Lily Payne
💍 1925/7632

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic

23
22

Arapuni
Arapuni

Six months
Three days

Residence of T. W. Handman, Arapuni

7661

15 July 1925

Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	15 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lancio Harold Greenhough	Lily Payne
BDM Match (94%)	Francis Harold Greenhough	Lily Payne
	💍 1925/7632
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Arapuni	Arapuni
Length of Residence	Six months	Three days
Marriage Place	Residence of T. W. Handman, Arapuni
Folio	7661
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

16 July 1925

John Henry Neens
Mabel Dorothy Barnett

John Henry Neems
Mabel Dorothy Barrett
💍 1925/7633

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Domestic

21
20

Putaruru
Puketuna

Five months
Twenty years

Residence of W. H. Barnett, Puketuna

7662

William Henry Barnett, father, Puketuna

16 July 1925

Rev. C. W. Brown, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	16 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Neens	Mabel Dorothy Barnett
BDM Match (95%)	John Henry Neems	Mabel Dorothy Barrett
	💍 1925/7633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Putaruru	Puketuna
Length of Residence	Five months	Twenty years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Barnett, Puketuna
Folio	7662
Consent	William Henry Barnett, father, Puketuna
Date of Certificate	16 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Brown, Methodist

12 August 1925

William Thomas Randolph Sanders
Violet Muriel Christina McEwan

William Thomas Randolph Sanders
Violet Muriel Christina McKewan
💍 1925/7634

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
25

Rotorua
Putaruru

Three days
Twelve years

St Pauls Church, Putaruru

7663

12 August 1925

Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	12 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Randolph Sanders	Violet Muriel Christina McEwan
BDM Match (97%)	William Thomas Randolph Sanders	Violet Muriel Christina McKewan
	💍 1925/7634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Putaruru
Length of Residence	Three days	Twelve years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Putaruru
Folio	7663
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. E. Connolly, Anglican

25 August 1925

Cesford Arthur Herbert
Edith Irene Hemingway

Cessford Arthur Herbert
Edith Irene Hemmingway
💍 1925/7635

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

37
24

Arapuni
Putaruru

Three months
Two years

Residence of D. B. Bailey, Main Road, Putaruru

7664

25 August 1925

Rev. Edgar Ward, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	25 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cesford Arthur Herbert	Edith Irene Hemingway
BDM Match (96%)	Cessford Arthur Herbert	Edith Irene Hemmingway
	💍 1925/7635
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Arapuni	Putaruru
Length of Residence	Three months	Two years
Marriage Place	Residence of D. B. Bailey, Main Road, Putaruru
Folio	7664
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edgar Ward, Anglican

5 September 1925

Edward David Surrey
Elsie Florence Pinfold

Edward David Torrey
Elsie Florence Pinfold
💍 1925/7636

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

21
19

Arapuni
Arapuni

Nine months
Three months

Registry Office, Putaruru

7665

John Pinfold, father

5 September 1925

J. Pearse, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	5 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward David Surrey	Elsie Florence Pinfold
BDM Match (95%)	Edward David Torrey	Elsie Florence Pinfold
	💍 1925/7636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Arapuni	Arapuni
Length of Residence	Nine months	Three months
Marriage Place	Registry Office, Putaruru
Folio	7665
Consent	John Pinfold, father
Date of Certificate	5 September 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Pearse, Registrar

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).

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).