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 1157

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. P. Ramsey

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

28 May 1925

George Edward Morrow
Maud Evelyn Nelson

George Edward Morrow
Maud Evelyn Nelson
💍 1925/4446

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

40
33

Whangarei
Whangarei

8 years
9 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

4222

28 May 1925

E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	28 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Morrow	Maud Evelyn Nelson
	💍 1925/4446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	8 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	4222
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1925
Officiating Minister	E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

5 June 1925

Francis Arthur Downs
Hilda Evelena Hope Rudolph

Francis Arthur Downs
Hilda Erelena Hope Rudolph
💍 1925/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

18
20

Pakotai
Pakotai

2 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

4223

G. Downs, father; Ma J. Rudolph, mother

5 June 1925

E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	5 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Arthur Downs	Hilda Evelena Hope Rudolph
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Arthur Downs	Hilda Erelena Hope Rudolph
	💍 1925/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Pakotai	Pakotai
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	4223
Consent	G. Downs, father; Ma J. Rudolph, mother
Date of Certificate	5 June 1925
Officiating Minister	E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

16 June 1925

Herbert Talford Parkin
Mary Walker

Herbert Talford Parkin
Mary Walker
💍 1925/4448

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter Factory Assistant
Typiste

23
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

10 years
Life

McGravins Private Dwelling, Whangarei

4224

16 June 1925

Rev. J. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	16 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Talford Parkin	Mary Walker
	💍 1925/4448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter Factory Assistant	Typiste
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	McGravins Private Dwelling, Whangarei
Folio	4224
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. B. Woolloxall, Methodist

17 June 1925

George Adolphus Hendy
Eileen Gertrude Baker

George Adolphus Hendy
Eileen Gertrude Baker
💍 1925/4449

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

31
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

4225

17 June 1925

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	17 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Adolphus Hendy	Eileen Gertrude Baker
	💍 1925/4449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	4225
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

19 June 1925

William Nathan
Mary Davis

William Nathan
Mary Davis
💍 1925/4481

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

19
19

Portland
Portland

3 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Whangarei

4226

Mary Nathan, mother; Rachel Paul, guardian

19 June 1925

Rev. Father Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	19 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nathan	Mary Davis
	💍 1925/4481
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	19
Dwelling Place	Portland	Portland
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Whangarei
Folio	4226
Consent	Mary Nathan, mother; Rachel Paul, guardian
Date of Certificate	19 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Campbell, Roman Catholic

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).