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 1265

District of New Plymouth Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. S. Medley

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

20 February 1925

Frank Lewis Fisher
Violet Constance Irene Stanton

Frank Lewis Fisher
Violet Constance Irene Stanton
💍 1925/1199

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Nurse

36 years
30 years

Motu
New Plymouth

3 days
7 weeks

St. Mary's Anglican Church, New Plymouth

1770

20 February 1925

F. G. Harvie, Anglican

No	21
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Lewis Fisher	Violet Constance Irene Stanton
	💍 1925/1199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Nurse
Age	36 years	30 years
Dwelling Place	Motu	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	7 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, New Plymouth
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	F. G. Harvie, Anglican

20 February 1925

William Henry Lewis
Nellie Ilson

William Henry Lewis
Nellie Illson
💍 1925/1200

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Dressmaker

28 years
25 years

New Plymouth
Waipuku

7 days
4 days

St. Mary's Anglican Church, New Plymouth

1771

20 February 1925

F. G. Harvie, Anglican

No	22
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Lewis	Nellie Ilson
BDM Match (96%)	William Henry Lewis	Nellie Illson
	💍 1925/1200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Waipuku
Length of Residence	7 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Anglican Church, New Plymouth
Folio	1771
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	F. G. Harvie, Anglican

23 February 1925

Frank William Center
Eva Agnes Andrews

Frank William Senter
Eva Agnes Andrews
💍 1925/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer
Typiste

24 years
25 years

New Plymouth
New Plymouth

14 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Fitzroy, New Plymouth

1772

23 February 1925

W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank William Center	Eva Agnes Andrews
BDM Match (98%)	Frank William Senter	Eva Agnes Andrews
	💍 1925/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer	Typiste
Age	24 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	14 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Fitzroy, New Plymouth
Folio	1772
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. H. E. Abbey, Methodist

27 February 1925

John Newton Stephenson
Edna Florence Greatbatch

John Newton Stephenson
Edna Florence Greatbatch
💍 1925/1202

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Clerk

25 years
32 years

Opunake
New Plymouth

1 year
15 1/2 years

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Te Henui, New Plymouth

1773

27 February 1925

F. G. Evans, Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	27 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Newton Stephenson	Edna Florence Greatbatch
	💍 1925/1202
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerk
Age	25 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Opunake	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	1 year	15 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Te Henui, New Plymouth
Folio	1773
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1925
Officiating Minister	F. G. Evans, Anglican

27 February 1925

Herbert Clarence Maxwell
Frances Annie Jane Smith

Herbert Clarence Maxwell
Frances Annie Jane Smith
💍 1925/1210

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Needlework

19 years
20 years

New Plymouth
New Plymouth

7 years
20 years

Salvation Army Hall, New Plymouth

1774

Arthur Herbert Maxwell (Father), Susanna Annie Smith (Mother)

27 February 1925

Adjutant Balcott, Salvation Army

No	25
Date of Notice	27 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Clarence Maxwell	Frances Annie Jane Smith
	💍 1925/1210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Needlework
Age	19 years	20 years
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, New Plymouth
Folio	1774
Consent	Arthur Herbert Maxwell (Father), Susanna Annie Smith (Mother)
Date of Certificate	27 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Adjutant Balcott, Salvation Army

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).