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 1197

District of Eltham Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar McBready

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

21 October 1925

John Thomas Attrill
Edith May Penniall

John Thomas Attrill
Edith May Penniall
💍 1925/9378

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph lineman
Domestic duties

24
24

Eltham
Ngaere

22 years
Life

Presbyterian Church, Eltham

9540

21 October 1925

Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	21 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Attrill	Edith May Penniall
	💍 1925/9378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph lineman	Domestic duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Ngaere
Length of Residence	22 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Eltham
Folio	9540
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

26 November 1925

Stanley Kear Hill
Ellen Frances Wright

Stanley Kear Hill
Ellen Frances Wright
💍 1925/9379

Bachelor
Spinster

Shop assistant
Domestic duties

21
22

Te Roti
Te Roti

9 days
11 days

Registrar's Office, Eltham

9541

26 November 1925

David McBready, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	26 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Kear Hill	Ellen Frances Wright
	💍 1925/9379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shop assistant	Domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Te Roti	Te Roti
Length of Residence	9 days	11 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Eltham
Folio	9541
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1925
Officiating Minister	David McBready, Registrar

27 November 1925

Samuel Ford
Emily Christensen

Samuel Lord
Emily Christensen
💍 1925/9380

Widower 22:12:22
Widow 9:12:18

Labourer
Domestic duties

48
40

New Plymouth
Eltham

5 years
34 years

Residence of Mr Liddle, Nairn Railway Street, Eltham

9542

27 November 1925

Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	27 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Ford	Emily Christensen
BDM Match (95%)	Samuel Lord	Emily Christensen
	💍 1925/9380
Condition	Widower 22:12:22	Widow 9:12:18
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	48	40
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Eltham
Length of Residence	5 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Liddle, Nairn Railway Street, Eltham
Folio	9542
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

12 December 1925

Roderick Cecil Edlin
Dorothy Hammander Babbage

Roderick Cecil Edlin
Dorothy Hammander Babbage
💍 1925/9381

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
20

Eltham
Eltham

20 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Eltham

9543

Frederick Charles Babbage, Father

12 December 1925

Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roderick Cecil Edlin	Dorothy Hammander Babbage
	💍 1925/9381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Eltham
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Eltham
Folio	9543
Consent	Frederick Charles Babbage, Father
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Orange, Presbyterian

15 December 1925

John Benjamin Bailey
Joy Hoskin

John Benjamin Bailey
Ivy Hoskin
💍 1925/9382

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

23
25

Eltham
Mangatoki

18 years
25 years

Union Church, Mangatoki

9544

15 December 1925

Rev. C. H. Isaacson, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	15 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjamin Bailey	Joy Hoskin
BDM Match (90%)	John Benjamin Bailey	Ivy Hoskin
	💍 1925/9382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Mangatoki
Length of Residence	18 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Union Church, Mangatoki
Folio	9544
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. H. Isaacson, 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).