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 1023

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar A. B. Curnow

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 October 1925

Leslie John Bradley
Grace Evelyn Bethell

Leslie John Bradley
Grace Evelyn Bethell
💍 1925/542

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

26
17

Te Kuiti
Te Kawa

6 months
6 years

Church of England, Te Kawa

9461

Robert Samuel Bethell, Father

9 October 1925

J. P. Weatherhog, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	9 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie John Bradley	Grace Evelyn Bethell
	💍 1925/542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	26	17
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Te Kawa
Length of Residence	6 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Kawa
Folio	9461
Consent	Robert Samuel Bethell, Father
Date of Certificate	9 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. P. Weatherhog, Church of England

14 October 1925

Arthur Robert Wedern
Helen Corbett

Arthur Robert Western
Helen Corbett
💍 1925/543

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Nurse

31
37

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

6 days
6 days

Church of England, Te Awamutu

9462

14 October 1925

G. T. Robson, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	14 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Robert Wedern	Helen Corbett
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Robert Western	Helen Corbett
	💍 1925/543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Nurse
Age	31	37
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Awamutu
Folio	9462
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1925
Officiating Minister	G. T. Robson, Church of England

20 October 1925

Nelson John Winch
Winifred Long

Nelson John Winch
Winifred Long
💍 1925/544

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

29
23

Te Awamutu
Hairini

13 years
23 years

Catholic Church, Kihikihi

9463

20 October 1925

J. Zanna, Catholic Church

No	28
Date of Notice	20 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson John Winch	Winifred Long
	💍 1925/544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Hairini
Length of Residence	13 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Kihikihi
Folio	9463
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Zanna, Catholic Church

19 November 1925

Frederick Brayshaw McWhannell
Rhoda Leslie Stewart McBurdie

Frederick Brayshaw McWhannell
Rhoda Leslie Stewart McCurdie
💍 1925/545

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Masseuse

35
28

Ngahinapouri
Te Awamutu

3 years
11 months

St. John's Church, Te Awamutu

9464

19 November 1925

Rev. G. J. Robson, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	19 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Brayshaw McWhannell	Rhoda Leslie Stewart McBurdie
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick Brayshaw McWhannell	Rhoda Leslie Stewart McCurdie
	💍 1925/545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Masseuse
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Ngahinapouri	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	3 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	9464
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Robson, Anglican

5 December 1925

Tahi Onehi
Sarah Ea Mason

Tahi Onehi
Sarah Ena Mason
💍 1925/546

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
18

Tarawera
Tarawera

23 years
4 years

Registrar Office, Te Awamutu

9465

John Emanuel Mason, Father

5 December 1925

S. A. Chunnuden, Registrar

No	30
Date of Notice	5 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tahi Onehi	Sarah Ea Mason
BDM Match (97%)	Tahi Onehi	Sarah Ena Mason
	💍 1925/546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Tarawera	Tarawera
Length of Residence	23 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Te Awamutu
Folio	9465
Consent	John Emanuel Mason, Father
Date of Certificate	5 December 1925
Officiating Minister	S. A. Chunnuden, Registrar

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).