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 985

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. Cameron

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 April 1925

Henry Davenport Whitmore
Margaret Ellen Pemberton

Henry Davenport Whitmore
Margaret Ellen Pemberton
💍 1925/73

Divorced (decree absolute 15.4.1917)
Spinster

Stationmaster
Domestic Duties

55
22

Tauranga
Tauranga

9 months
3 months

Residence of Pemberton, Desert Rd, Tauranga

1634

2 April 1925

Rev. P. L. Frost, Methodist, Tauranga

No	12
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Davenport Whitmore	Margaret Ellen Pemberton
	💍 1925/73
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 15.4.1917)	Spinster
Profession	Stationmaster	Domestic Duties
Age	55	22
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	9 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Pemberton, Desert Rd, Tauranga
Folio	1634
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. L. Frost, Methodist, Tauranga

2 April 1925

Peter Morgan O'Brien
Minnie Little

Peter Morgan Obrien
Minnie Little
💍 1925/3898

Bachelor
Spinster

Gents Outfitter
Draper

39
30

Tauranga
Tauranga

7 months
5 years

Methodist Church, Tauranga

4100

2 April 1925

Rev. P. L. Frost, Methodist, Tauranga

No	13
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Morgan O'Brien	Minnie Little
BDM Match (95%)	Peter Morgan Obrien	Minnie Little
	💍 1925/3898
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gents Outfitter	Draper
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	7 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Tauranga
Folio	4100
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. L. Frost, Methodist, Tauranga

9 April 1925

Charles Henry Fitch
Tryphena Maud Wall

Charles Henry Fitch
Tryphena Maud Wall
💍 1925/4357

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
27

Paparoa
Omokoroa

3 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Tauranga

4101

9 April 1925

J. Cameron, Registrar, Tauranga

No	14
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Fitch	Tryphena Maud Wall
	💍 1925/4357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Paparoa	Omokoroa
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Tauranga
Folio	4101
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Cameron, Registrar, Tauranga

14 April 1925

William Arthur Dabb
Doris Wade

William Arthur Dabb
Doris Wade
💍 1925/4368

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

33
21

Tauranga
Tauriko

3 days
6 years

In residence of Wade, Tauriko

4102

14 April 1925

Rev. E. A. M. Clutcheon, Anglican, Tauranga

No	15
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Dabb	Doris Wade
	💍 1925/4368
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauriko
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	In residence of Wade, Tauriko
Folio	4102
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. A. M. Clutcheon, Anglican, Tauranga

22 April 1925

John Marsh Burd
Dorothea Emma Jordan

John Marsh Burd
Dorothea Emma Jordan
💍 1925/4375

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
32

Oropi
Oropi

8 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Tauranga

4103

22 April 1925

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian, Tauranga

No	16
Date of Notice	22 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Marsh Burd	Dorothea Emma Jordan
	💍 1925/4375
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Oropi	Oropi
Length of Residence	8 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tauranga
Folio	4103
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian, Tauranga

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).