Intentions to Marry, 1925 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840530, 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.

1925c contains pages 925-1356, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 941

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1925

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

2 January 1925

Roy Arthur White
Nellie Ruth Dewery

Roy Arthur White
Nellie Ruth Dewey
💍 1925/1085

Bachelor
Spinster

Brass finisher
Domestic Duties

21
21

Rotoiti
Rotoiti

5 days
5 days

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

1609

2 January 1925

Rev. H. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Arthur White	Nellie Ruth Dewery
BDM Match (97%)	Roy Arthur White	Nellie Ruth Dewey
	💍 1925/1085
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brass finisher	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Rotoiti	Rotoiti
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	1609
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

15 January 1925

Robert Charles Durham
Marion Elsie Vant

Robert Charles Curham
Marion Elsie Vant
💍 1925/1062

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
27

Lake Rotoma
Lake Rotoma

4 years
6 days

The Bungalow, Lake Rotoma

1610

15 January 1925

Rev. Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Durham	Marion Elsie Vant
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Charles Curham	Marion Elsie Vant
	💍 1925/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Lake Rotoma	Lake Rotoma
Length of Residence	4 years	6 days
Marriage Place	The Bungalow, Lake Rotoma
Folio	1610
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

16 January 1925

James O'Donoghue
Margrie Kathleen Young

James O'Donoghue
Margrie Kathleen Young
💍 1925/1063

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
House Maid

25
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 days
7 days

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1611

16 January 1925

J. S. Browcher, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	16 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James O'Donoghue	Margrie Kathleen Young
	💍 1925/1063
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	House Maid
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1611
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. S. Browcher, Registrar

29 January 1925

Theophilus John Massey Metcalfe
Edna Vivienne Lelia Wright

Theophilus John Massey Metcalfe
Evna Vivienne Celia Wright
💍 1925/1064

Bachelor
Spinster

Retired Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

58
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
2 days

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

1612

29 January 1925

Rev. W. S. G. Cameron, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	29 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theophilus John Massey Metcalfe	Edna Vivienne Lelia Wright
BDM Match (96%)	Theophilus John Massey Metcalfe	Evna Vivienne Celia Wright
	💍 1925/1064
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Retired Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	58	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	2 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	1612
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. S. G. Cameron, Church of England

10 February 1925

Alfred Douglas Stammers Dibley
Susanna Kavel

Alfred Douglas Stamers Dibley
Susanna Karl
💍 1925/1065

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
25

Ngongotaha
Ngongotaha

6 years
25 years

Catholic Church, Ngongotaha

1613

10 February 1925

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	10 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Douglas Stammers Dibley	Susanna Kavel
BDM Match (91%)	Alfred Douglas Stamers Dibley	Susanna Karl
	💍 1925/1065
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Ngongotaha	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	6 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Ngongotaha
Folio	1613
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart, Roman Catholic

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).