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 1051

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar H. R. Bush

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 July 1925

Raymond George Flynn
Eileen Alice Paul

Raymond George Flynn
Eileen Alice Paul
💍 1925/6692

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

24
18

Thames
Thames

13 years
12 months

St Francis Church, Thames

6692

David Paul, father

9 July 1925

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	9 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond George Flynn	Eileen Alice Paul
	💍 1925/6692
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	13 years	12 months
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Thames
Folio	6692
Consent	David Paul, father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

10 July 1925

James Douglas Fox
Nellie Elvin

James Douglas Fox
Nellie Elvin
💍 1925/6693

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
23

Turua
Turua

4 years
23 years

Church of England, Turua

6693

10 July 1925

Rev. J. M. Beaufort, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	10 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Douglas Fox	Nellie Elvin
	💍 1925/6693
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Turua
Folio	6693
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Beaufort, Church of England

22 July 1925

Emile Joseph Dean
Tekla Sorrich

Emill Joseph Dean
Tekea Lovrich
💍 1925/6694

Bachelor
Spinster

Fish merchant
Domestic duties

28
18

Thames
Hikutaia

3 days
6 months

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

6694

Ante Sorrich, father

22 July 1925

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	31
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emile Joseph Dean	Tekla Sorrich
BDM Match (86%)	Emill Joseph Dean	Tekea Lovrich
	💍 1925/6694
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fish merchant	Domestic duties
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	6694
Consent	Ante Sorrich, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

12 August 1925

Cecil John Kearsley
Kathleen Jewell Bowau

Cecil John Kearsley
Kathleen Jewell Cowan
💍 1925/6696

Widower (date of decease former wife 19.2.20)
Spinster

Motor driver
Nurse

26
19

Thames
Thames

3 years
6 years

Church of England, Thames

6695

Kathleen Jewell, formerly Horle Bowau, mother

12 August 1925

Rev. W. G. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	12 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Kearsley	Kathleen Jewell Bowau
BDM Match (95%)	Cecil John Kearsley	Kathleen Jewell Cowan
	💍 1925/6696
Condition	Widower (date of decease former wife 19.2.20)	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Nurse
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	6695
Consent	Kathleen Jewell, formerly Horle Bowau, mother
Date of Certificate	12 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Robertshawe, Church of England

17 August 1925

Richard Patrick Pollard
Muriel Isabel Maxwell

Richard Patrick Pollard
Muriel Isabel Maxwell
💍 1925/6697

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic duties

32
27

Kopu
Kopu

1 week
1 month

St Georges Church, Thames

6696

17 August 1925

Rev. W. G. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	17 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Patrick Pollard	Muriel Isabel Maxwell
	💍 1925/6697
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Kopu	Kopu
Length of Residence	1 week	1 month
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	6696
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. G. Robertshawe, Church of England

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).