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 1213

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar L. J. Bull

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

13 October 1925

Herbert William Brant
Lilian Jones

Herbert William Brant
Lily Jones
💍 1925/9384

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
27

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
1 day

Church of England, Hawera

9545

13 October 1925

H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

No	58
Date of Notice	13 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Brant	Lilian Jones
BDM Match (88%)	Herbert William Brant	Lily Jones
	💍 1925/9384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	9545
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

15 October 1925

William Stroualey Little
Margaret Ellen Gallagher

William Stroudley Little
Margaret Ellen Gallagher
💍 1925/9385

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Supervisor
Domestic Duties

39
32

Hawera
Hawera

1 year
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

9546

15 October 1925

P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

No	59
Date of Notice	15 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stroualey Little	Margaret Ellen Gallagher
BDM Match (98%)	William Stroudley Little	Margaret Ellen Gallagher
	💍 1925/9385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Supervisor	Domestic Duties
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 year	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	9546
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

20 October 1925

Clarence Alan Raaford
Olive Muriel Wicks

Clarence Alan Radford
Olive Muriel Wicks
💍 1925/9386

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
21

Normanby
Hawera

1 month
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

9547

20 October 1925

R. G. Evans, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	20 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Alan Raaford	Olive Muriel Wicks
BDM Match (98%)	Clarence Alan Radford	Olive Muriel Wicks
	💍 1925/9386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 month	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	9547
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1925
Officiating Minister	R. G. Evans, Presbyterian

22 October 1925

Henry Richard Johnston
Florence Winifred Andrews

Henry Richard Johnston
Florence Winifred Andrews
💍 1925/9387

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

47
23

Normanby
Hawera

4 years
23 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

9548

22 October 1925

P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

No	61
Date of Notice	22 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Richard Johnston	Florence Winifred Andrews
	💍 1925/9387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	47	23
Dwelling Place	Normanby	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	9548
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

29 October 1925

Oswald Henry George Collingwood
Dulcie Hope Sangster

Oswald Henry George Collingwood
Dulcie Hope Sangster
💍 1925/9388

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic Duties

21
20

Ararata
Hawera

4 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Hawera

9549

William Herbert Sangster, Father

29 October 1925

W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

No	62
Date of Notice	29 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Henry George Collingwood	Dulcie Hope Sangster
	💍 1925/9388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic Duties
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Ararata	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hawera
Folio	9549
Consent	William Herbert Sangster, Father
Date of Certificate	29 October 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

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).