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 971

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar F. Dawson

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

12 October 1925

Leslie Taylor Clarke
Leila Myrtle McHugh

Leslie Taylor Clarke
Leila Myrtle McHugh
💍 1925/9345

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Domestic Duties

28
19

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

2 years
15 years

Church of England

9431

Joseph Alfred McHugh, father

12 October 1925

C. W. Turner, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	12 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Taylor Clarke	Leila Myrtle McHugh
	💍 1925/9345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	9431
Consent	Joseph Alfred McHugh, father
Date of Certificate	12 October 1925
Officiating Minister	C. W. Turner, Anglican

20 October 1925

Thomas Drury
Sarah Ann Conder

Thomas Durry
Sarah Ann Conder
💍 1925/9346

Widower (24/1/20)
Spinster

Railway Guard
Housemaid

40
45

Taumarunui
Kakahi

7 years
2 months

Church of England

9432

20 October 1925

C. W. Turner, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	20 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Drury	Sarah Ann Conder
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Durry	Sarah Ann Conder
	💍 1925/9346
Condition	Widower (24/1/20)	Spinster
Profession	Railway Guard	Housemaid
Age	40	45
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Kakahi
Length of Residence	7 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	9432
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1925
Officiating Minister	C. W. Turner, Anglican

2 November 1925

Charles Henry Faulk
Caroline Minnie Scott

Charles Henry Faulk
Caroline Minnie Scott
💍 1925/9347

Bachelor
Widow (26/1/1919)

Carpenter
Housekeeper

48
43

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

7 years
10 months

Registrar's Office

9433

2 November 1925

Deputy Registrar (Dawson)

No	31
Date of Notice	2 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Faulk	Caroline Minnie Scott
	💍 1925/9347
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (26/1/1919)
Profession	Carpenter	Housekeeper
Age	48	43
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	7 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	9433
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar (Dawson)

28 November 1925

William Roy Henderson
May Kathleen Gurr Otto

William Roy Henderson
May Kathleen Gurr Otto
💍 1925/9348

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic

30
18

Tirau
Taumarunui

3 weeks
11 years

Church of England

9434

Frederick Edward Otto, father

28 November 1925

C. W. Turner, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	28 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Roy Henderson	May Kathleen Gurr Otto
	💍 1925/9348
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Tirau	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 weeks	11 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	9434
Consent	Frederick Edward Otto, father
Date of Certificate	28 November 1925
Officiating Minister	C. W. Turner, Anglican

3 December 1925

Cluny Roy MacPherson
Olive Ethel Hart

Cluny Roy MacPherson
Olive Ethel Hart
💍 1925/9325

Bachelor
Spinster

Biograph Operator
Domestic

20
21

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

3 years
15 years

The manse

9435

Louisa Ann Benson, mother

3 December 1925

P. J. Wainwright, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	3 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cluny Roy MacPherson	Olive Ethel Hart
	💍 1925/9325
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Biograph Operator	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	The manse
Folio	9435
Consent	Louisa Ann Benson, mother
Date of Certificate	3 December 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Wainwright, 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).