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 1204

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 April 1925

Norman Douglas Scarrow
Maggie Thomer

Norman Douglas Scarrow
Maggie Thorner
💍 1925/4497

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
17

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

4249

Ada Scarrow formerly Thomer, Mother

20 April 1925

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Douglas Scarrow	Maggie Thomer
BDM Match (93%)	Norman Douglas Scarrow	Maggie Thorner
	💍 1925/4497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	17
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	4249
Consent	Ada Scarrow formerly Thomer, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

21 April 1925

Alexander Murphy
Alice Mary O'Shea

Alexander Murphy
Alice Mary O'Shea
💍 1925/4498

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

26
24

Meremere
Ohangai

22 years
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

4250

21 April 1925

T. O'Shea, Roman Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	21 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Murphy	Alice Mary O'Shea
	💍 1925/4498
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Meremere	Ohangai
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	4250
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1925
Officiating Minister	T. O'Shea, Roman Catholic

21 April 1925

Wallace Robinson
Teamo Ngawira commonly known as Sarah Baldwin

Wallace Robinson
Sarah Baldwin
💍 1925/4042

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Linesman
Domestic Duties

21
21

Hawera
Hawera

7 years
12 years

Residence of Mrs. Buckland, 78 Argyle Street, Hawera

4252

21 April 1925

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	21 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wallace Robinson	Teamo Ngawira commonly known as Sarah Baldwin
BDM Match (64%)	Wallace Robinson	Sarah Baldwin
	💍 1925/4042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Buckland, 78 Argyle Street, Hawera
Folio	4252
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1925
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

22 April 1925

Samuel Percy
Alma Mabel Saunders

Samuel Percy
Alma Mabel Saunders
💍 1925/4031

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

22
20

Hawera
Hawera

2 1/2 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Hawera

4251

John Thomas Saunders, Father

22 April 1925

W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

No	25
Date of Notice	22 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Percy	Alma Mabel Saunders
	💍 1925/4031
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hawera
Folio	4251
Consent	John Thomas Saunders, Father
Date of Certificate	22 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

7 May 1925

Michael Herrick
Margaret Isabel Simpson

Michael Kerrisk
Margaret Isabel Simpson
💍 1925/4049

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Produce Grader
Domestic Duties

32
18

Hawera
Hawera

7 days
10 years

Registrar's Office, Hawera

4253

Thomas John Gaw Simpson, Father

7 May 1925

L. J. Bull, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	7 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Herrick	Margaret Isabel Simpson
BDM Match (93%)	Michael Kerrisk	Margaret Isabel Simpson
	💍 1925/4049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Produce Grader	Domestic Duties
Age	32	18
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	7 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hawera
Folio	4253
Consent	Thomas John Gaw Simpson, Father
Date of Certificate	7 May 1925
Officiating Minister	L. J. Bull, Registrar

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).