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 951

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar H. 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

27 October 1925

Rayner Herbert Bonnington
Tineka Karai Brett

Rayner Herbert Bonnington
Tirita Kauri Butt
💍 1925/9431

Bachelor
Spinster

Signwriter
Masseur

28
26

Rotorua
Rotorua

11 months
26 years

St. Faith's Anglican Church, Ohinemutu

9418

27 October 1925

Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

No	31
Date of Notice	27 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rayner Herbert Bonnington	Tineka Karai Brett
BDM Match (81%)	Rayner Herbert Bonnington	Tirita Kauri Butt
	💍 1925/9431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter	Masseur
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	11 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Faith's Anglican Church, Ohinemutu
Folio	9418
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

28 October 1925

Charles Crawford Neal
Elizabeth Sanders

Charles Crawford Neal
Elizabeth Sanders
💍 1925/9432

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Music Teacher

43
34

Putaruru
Rotorua

1 1/2 years
7 days

Bainbridge Memorial Methodist Church, Rotorua

9419

28 October 1925

Rev. Charles W. Brown, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	28 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Crawford Neal	Elizabeth Sanders
	💍 1925/9432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Music Teacher
Age	43	34
Dwelling Place	Putaruru	Rotorua
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Bainbridge Memorial Methodist Church, Rotorua
Folio	9419
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Charles W. Brown, Methodist

30 October 1925

Bertram James Henderson
Ilma Eden Webb

Bertram James Henderson
Ilma Eden Webb
💍 1925/9434

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Milliner

24
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 years
8 months

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

9420

30 October 1925

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

No	33
Date of Notice	30 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram James Henderson	Ilma Eden Webb
	💍 1925/9434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Milliner
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	9420
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

3 November 1925

Charles Robin McKenzie Goodson
Myrle Daisy Paton

Charles Robin McKenzie Goodson
Myrtle Daisy Paton
💍 1925/9435

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor-driver
Domestic Duties

24
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

24 years
6 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

9421

3 November 1925

Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	3 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Robin McKenzie Goodson	Myrle Daisy Paton
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Robin McKenzie Goodson	Myrtle Daisy Paton
	💍 1925/9435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor-driver	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	24 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	9421
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

5 November 1925

Herbert Joy Harris
Lilian Gertrude Hellier

Herbert Joy Harris
Lilian Gertrude Blanche Hellier
💍 1925/9436

Divorced (Decree Absolute 25.9.1925)
Widow (10.10.1923)

Salesman
Domestic Duties

44
40

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

The Presbyterian Manse, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua

9422

5 November 1925

Rev. A. B. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	5 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Joy Harris	Lilian Gertrude Hellier
BDM Match (87%)	Herbert Joy Harris	Lilian Gertrude Blanche Hellier
	💍 1925/9436
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 25.9.1925)	Widow (10.10.1923)
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	44	40
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua
Folio	9422
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1925
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).

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).