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 1316

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar W. 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

26 January 1925

William Greaves Brocklebank
Lizzie Jane Ellen Heads

William Greaves Brocklebank
Lizzie Jane Ellen Meads
💍 1925/9902

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic duties

25
21

Stratford
Stratford

18 years
21 years

Presbyterian Manse, Regan St, Stratford

1801

26 January 1925

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Greaves Brocklebank	Lizzie Jane Ellen Heads
BDM Match (98%)	William Greaves Brocklebank	Lizzie Jane Ellen Meads
	💍 1925/9902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	18 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Regan St, Stratford
Folio	1801
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

20 February 1925

James Haurine
Doreen Elizabeth Coleman

James Marriner
Doreen Elizabeth Coleman
💍 1925/9913

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic duties

23
19

Pembroke Rd, Stratford
Inaha, Hawera

6 months
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

1802

Theodora Violet Coleman, Mother

20 February 1925

Rev. Thomas Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Haurine	Doreen Elizabeth Coleman
BDM Match (89%)	James Marriner	Doreen Elizabeth Coleman
	💍 1925/9913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Pembroke Rd, Stratford	Inaha, Hawera
Length of Residence	6 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	1802
Consent	Theodora Violet Coleman, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Kelly, Roman Catholic

24 February 1925

Ronald Leake Rendall
Mary Josephine Sherlock

Ronald Leslie Bendall
Mary Josephine Sherlock
💍 1925/9920

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic duties

21
22

Stratford
Stratford

7 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

1803

24 February 1925

Rev. Thomas Kelly, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	24 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Leake Rendall	Mary Josephine Sherlock
BDM Match (91%)	Ronald Leslie Bendall	Mary Josephine Sherlock
	💍 1925/9920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic duties
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	1803
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Kelly, Roman Catholic

5 March 1925

Lawrence Cameron
Mary Louisa Mills

Lawrence Cameron
Mary Louisa Mills
💍 1925/9921

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
20

Pembroke Rd, Stratford
Denby Rd, Midhirst

24 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Stratford

1804

Alfred Mills, Father

5 March 1925

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	5 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Cameron	Mary Louisa Mills
	💍 1925/9921
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Pembroke Rd, Stratford	Denby Rd, Midhirst
Length of Residence	24 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Stratford
Folio	1804
Consent	Alfred Mills, Father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

6 March 1925

Henry Arnold Pegg
Glory Margaret Sangster

Henry Arnold Pegg
Glory Margaret Sangster
💍 1925/9922

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

33
27

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
27 years

Presbyterian Church, Wharehuna

1805

6 March 1925

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	6 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arnold Pegg	Glory Margaret Sangster
	💍 1925/9922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Wharehuna
Folio	1805
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).