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 558

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar A. A. Besley

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

9 February 1925

Peter Kelly
Rose Isobel Anne Trotter

Peter Kelly
Rose Isobel Anne Trotter
💍 1925/1002

Widower, 15 May 1915
Spinster

Milk Vendor

44
40

Hamilton
Hamilton

18 years
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

1500

9 February 1925

M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Kelly	Rose Isobel Anne Trotter
	💍 1925/1002
Condition	Widower, 15 May 1915	Spinster
Profession	Milk Vendor
Age	44	40
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	18 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	1500
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

9 February 1925

William Smith Russell
Eileen Alma Steadman

William Smith Russell
Eileen Alma Steadman
💍 1925/936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

10 days
7 days

Residence of Rev. J. T. Burrows, Melville

1501

9 February 1925

J. T. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith Russell	Eileen Alma Steadman
	💍 1925/936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	10 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. J. T. Burrows, Melville
Folio	1501
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. T. Burrows, Presbyterian

16 February 1925

David Terrace
Alexia Reid

David Terrace
Alexia Reid
💍 1925/947

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

34
31

Hamilton
Hamilton

5 days
6 weeks

St Pauls Church, London Street, Hamilton

1502

16 February 1925

W. Ready, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	16 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Terrace	Alexia Reid
	💍 1925/947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	34	31
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	5 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, London Street, Hamilton
Folio	1502
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Ready, Methodist

16 February 1925

William James Williams
Rebecca Hamilton Pearson

William James Williams
Rebecca Hamilton Pearson
💍 1925/954

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 18 May 1921

Carpenter

39
34

Hamilton
Morrinsville

1 week
2 years

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

1503

16 February 1925

Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	16 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Williams	Rebecca Hamilton Pearson
	💍 1925/954
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 18 May 1921
Profession	Carpenter
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	1 week	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	1503
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

17 February 1925

Harold Gardner Varney
Hillie Wildsmith Carvosso

Harold Gardner Varney
Hillie Wildsmith Carvosso
💍 1925/955

Bachelor
Divorced, Decree absolute 10 June 1924

Drapers Assistant

27
28

Hamilton
Residence of Mr T. Kingston, 22 Stanley Street, Hamilton

5 years
3 years

Residence of Mr T. Kingston, 22 Stanley Street, Hamilton

1504

17 February 1925

H. G. Gilbert, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	17 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Gardner Varney	Hillie Wildsmith Carvosso
	💍 1925/955
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, Decree absolute 10 June 1924
Profession	Drapers Assistant
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Residence of Mr T. Kingston, 22 Stanley Street, Hamilton
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr T. Kingston, 22 Stanley Street, Hamilton
Folio	1504
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1925
Officiating Minister	H. G. Gilbert, 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).

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).