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 1301

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar A. Williams

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

15 May 1925

Herbert Thompson
Irene Harris

Herbert Thompson
Irene Harris
💍 1925/4541

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
19

Opunake
Pihama

3 years
19 years

Methodist Church

4345

William Harris, Father

15 May 1925

Rev. E. B. Chambers, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	15 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Thompson	Irene Harris
	💍 1925/4541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Pihama
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	4345
Consent	William Harris, Father
Date of Certificate	15 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. B. Chambers, Methodist

25 May 1925

Alfred John Bland
Clarice Mildred Coupe

Alfred John Bland
Clarice Mildred Coupe
💍 1925/4542

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
16

Mangatoki
Tekiri

10 months
16 years

Anglican Church

4346

John Coupe, Father

25 May 1925

Rev. C. W. Solomon, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	25 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Bland	Clarice Mildred Coupe
	💍 1925/4542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Mangatoki	Tekiri
Length of Residence	10 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	4346
Consent	John Coupe, Father
Date of Certificate	25 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Solomon, Anglican

29 May 1925

William Martin Pearce
Eleanor Harris

William Martin Pearce
Eleanor Harris
💍 1925/4543

Bachelor
Spinster

Farming
Domestic

35
24

Pihama
Pihama

2 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

4347

29 May 1925

Registrar of Marriages

No	6
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Martin Pearce	Eleanor Harris
	💍 1925/4543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farming	Domestic
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Pihama
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake
Folio	4347
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

9 June 1925

Melchior Muller
Maria Clara Zurcher

Melchior Muller
Maria Clara Zurcher
💍 1925/4544

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

42
22

Opunake
Oaonui

3 days
8 days

Roman Catholic Church, Opunake

4348

9 June 1925

Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	9 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Melchior Muller	Maria Clara Zurcher
	💍 1925/4544
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	22
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Oaonui
Length of Residence	3 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Opunake
Folio	4348
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

12 June 1925

William George Kiepin
Eileen Myrtle Hickey

William George Kilpin
Eileen Myrtle Hickey
💍 1925/4545

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

25
18

Alton
Opunake

3 weeks
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Opunake

4349

James McCartney Hickey, Father

16 June 1925

Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	12 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Kiepin	Eileen Myrtle Hickey
BDM Match (98%)	William George Kilpin	Eileen Myrtle Hickey
	💍 1925/4545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Alton	Opunake
Length of Residence	3 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Opunake
Folio	4349
Consent	James McCartney Hickey, Father
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kennedy, 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).