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 1324

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar F. Scott

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

22 July 1925

Edward Henry Golding
Moana MacDonald

Edward Henry Golding
Moira MacDonald
💍 1925/6841

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Schoolteacher

20
21

Stratford
Stratford

2 years
17 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

6841

Elizabeth Teresa Golding, father

22 July 1925

Thomas Shelley, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	22 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Henry Golding	Moana MacDonald
BDM Match (93%)	Edward Henry Golding	Moira MacDonald
	💍 1925/6841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Schoolteacher
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	2 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	6841
Consent	Elizabeth Teresa Golding, father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Thomas Shelley, Roman Catholic

25 July 1925

John Gilbert Vickers
Ida Isabella Kelly

John Gilbert Vickers
Vida Isabella Kelly
💍 1925/6842

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
22

Midhirst
Midhirst

23 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

6842

25 July 1925

J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	25 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gilbert Vickers	Ida Isabella Kelly
BDM Match (95%)	John Gilbert Vickers	Vida Isabella Kelly
	💍 1925/6842
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	6842
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

31 July 1925

Gordon Leonard Taylor
Frances Esther Davy

Gordon Lenard Taylor
Frances Esther Davy
💍 1925/6843

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic

21
17

Ngaere
Ngaere

10 years
6 years

Residence of T. H. Taylor, Ngaere

6843

Arthur Davy, father

31 July 1925

William Wesley Avery

No	41
Date of Notice	31 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Leonard Taylor	Frances Esther Davy
BDM Match (98%)	Gordon Lenard Taylor	Frances Esther Davy
	💍 1925/6843
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Ngaere
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of T. H. Taylor, Ngaere
Folio	6843
Consent	Arthur Davy, father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1925
Officiating Minister	William Wesley Avery

5 August 1925

Lancelot Guillesson
Jessie Agnes Hackley

Lancelot Guillosson
Jessie Agnes Lockley
💍 1925/6844

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

32
20

Eltham
Cardiff

14 days
8 months

Registrar's Office, Stratford

6844

Henry Edward Hackley, father

5 August 1925

H. A. Leath, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	5 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lancelot Guillesson	Jessie Agnes Hackley
BDM Match (92%)	Lancelot Guillosson	Jessie Agnes Lockley
	💍 1925/6844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Eltham	Cardiff
Length of Residence	14 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Stratford
Folio	6844
Consent	Henry Edward Hackley, father
Date of Certificate	5 August 1925
Officiating Minister	H. A. Leath, Registrar

7 August 1925

William Robert Mason
Doris Ruby Mulesby

William Robert Mason
Mavis Ruby Mumby
💍 1925/6846

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

19
16

Stratford
Stratford

19 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

6845

Robert Mason, father; George Mulesby, father

7 August 1925

J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	7 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Robert Mason	Doris Ruby Mulesby
BDM Match (83%)	William Robert Mason	Mavis Ruby Mumby
	💍 1925/6846
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	19 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	6845
Consent	Robert Mason, father; George Mulesby, father
Date of Certificate	7 August 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

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).