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 1210

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 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

29 July 1925

Alfred Honey
Mary Ann Wasley

Alfred Honey
Mary Ann Wasley
💍 1925/6762

Widower
Widow

Baker
Domestic Duties

65
62

Hawera
Hawera

1 year
12 years

Residence of Mrs M A Wasley, Dives Avenue, Hawera

6762

29 July 1925

W G Oxbrow, Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	29 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Honey	Mary Ann Wasley
	💍 1925/6762
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Baker	Domestic Duties
Age	65	62
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 year	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs M A Wasley, Dives Avenue, Hawera
Folio	6762
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1925
Officiating Minister	W G Oxbrow, Methodist

1 August 1925

Eric Mervyn Higgs
Ethel Jane Butler

Eric Mervyn Higgs
Ethel Jane Butler
💍 1925/6763

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Waitress

25
18

Hawera
Hawera

10 months
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

6763

William Raymus Butler, Father

1 August 1925

P G Power, Roman Catholic

No	51
Date of Notice	1 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Mervyn Higgs	Ethel Jane Butler
	💍 1925/6763
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Waitress
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	6763
Consent	William Raymus Butler, Father
Date of Certificate	1 August 1925
Officiating Minister	P G Power, Roman Catholic

4 August 1925

Allen Edward Baker
Annie Busby

Allen Edward Baker
Annie Busby
💍 1925/6764

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

20
29

Hawera
Inaha

4 days
6 weeks

Church of England, Hawera

6764

Rowland Preedy Baker, Father

4 August 1925

H W Monaghan, Anglican

No	52
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Edward Baker	Annie Busby
	💍 1925/6764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	20	29
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Inaha
Length of Residence	4 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	6764
Consent	Rowland Preedy Baker, Father
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	H W Monaghan, Anglican

5 August 1925

William Thomas Johnson
Ruth Elizabeth Finlay

William Thomas Johnson
Edith Elizabeth Finlay
💍 1925/6765

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

43
36

Hawera
Hawera

10 years
36 years

Methodist Church, Hawera

6765

5 August 1925

W G Oxbrow, Methodist

No	53
Date of Notice	5 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Johnson	Ruth Elizabeth Finlay
BDM Match (93%)	William Thomas Johnson	Edith Elizabeth Finlay
	💍 1925/6765
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hawera
Folio	6765
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1925
Officiating Minister	W G Oxbrow, Methodist

8 September 1925

Henry Allen Steevens (formerly Horton)
Elizabeth Harriet Jamieson

Henry Allen Steevens
Elizabeth Harriet Jamieson
💍 1925/6766

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
25

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

6766

8 September 1925

P G Power, Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	8 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Allen Steevens (formerly Horton)	Elizabeth Harriet Jamieson
BDM Match (76%)	Henry Allen Steevens	Elizabeth Harriet Jamieson
	💍 1925/6766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	6766
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1925
Officiating Minister	P G Power, 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).