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 1161

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 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

18 August 1925

Hamilton Walker
Vera Sophia Lovatt

Hamilton Walker
Vera Sophia Levett
💍 1925/6736

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
22

Maungakaramea
Whangarei

21 years
22 years

Baptist Church, Whangarei

6736

18 August 1925

Rev. A. Justice, Baptist

No	65
Date of Notice	18 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hamilton Walker	Vera Sophia Lovatt
BDM Match (94%)	Hamilton Walker	Vera Sophia Levett
	💍 1925/6736
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Maungakaramea	Whangarei
Length of Residence	21 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Whangarei
Folio	6736
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Justice, Baptist

19 August 1925

Roland Arthur Pigg
Sarah Constance Woodward

Roland Arthur Trigg
Sarah Constance Woodward
💍 1925/6737

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

30
31

Maungatapere
Residence of Mr. Woodward, Whatitiri

1 year
all life

Residence of Mr. Woodward, Whatitiri

6737

19 August 1925

Rev. I. R. B. Moolasall, Methodist

No	66
Date of Notice	19 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roland Arthur Pigg	Sarah Constance Woodward
BDM Match (95%)	Roland Arthur Trigg	Sarah Constance Woodward
	💍 1925/6737
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Maungatapere	Residence of Mr. Woodward, Whatitiri
Length of Residence	1 year	all life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Woodward, Whatitiri
Folio	6737
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. I. R. B. Moolasall, Methodist

19 August 1925

Frederick Tyndall Rees
Sarah Tyler Shaffill

Frederick Tyndall Rees
Sarah Tyler Chappell
💍 1925/6738

Widower
Divorced

Engine Driver
Domestic

52
42

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 months
5 months

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

6738

19 August 1925

W. L. Donahue, Deputy Registrar

No	67
Date of Notice	19 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Tyndall Rees	Sarah Tyler Shaffill
BDM Match (90%)	Frederick Tyndall Rees	Sarah Tyler Chappell
	💍 1925/6738
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	52	42
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	6738
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1925
Officiating Minister	W. L. Donahue, Deputy Registrar

21 August 1925

Emanuel Shepherd
Kathleen Marion Brown

Emanuel Shepherd
Katherine Marion Brown
💍 1925/6739

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Proprietor
Domestic

39
20

Whangarei
Moengawahine, Whangarei

6 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

6739

Joseph Thomas Brown, father

21 August 1925

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	21 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Shepherd	Kathleen Marion Brown
BDM Match (91%)	Emanuel Shepherd	Katherine Marion Brown
	💍 1925/6739
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Proprietor	Domestic
Age	39	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Moengawahine, Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	6739
Consent	Joseph Thomas Brown, father
Date of Certificate	21 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

21 August 1925

Ronald Hurley Godfrey
Doris Edna Marsh

Ronald Hurley Godfrey
Doris Edna Marsh
💍 1925/6740

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

31
21

Hikurangi
Hikurangi

6 months
6 months

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

6740

21 August 1925

E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	21 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Hurley Godfrey	Doris Edna Marsh
	💍 1925/6740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi	Hikurangi
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	6740
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1925
Officiating Minister	E. P. Ramsey, 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).