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 1162

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar E. P. Ramsey

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

21 August 1925

Robert Dudley Lawrence
Clara Purchase

Robert Dudley Lawrence
Clara Purchase
💍 1925/6741

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Shop assistant

29
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Whangarei

6741

21 August 1925

Rev. T. R. B. Woollavall, Methodist

No	90
Date of Notice	21 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dudley Lawrence	Clara Purchase
	💍 1925/6741
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Shop assistant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Whangarei
Folio	6741
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. B. Woollavall, Methodist

28 August 1925

Charles Hayston
Mary Winifred Evelyn Giffey

Charles Hayston
Mary Winifred Evelyn Giffney
💍 1925/7645

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

43
38

Waiotira
Whangarei

2 years
6 months

Dwelling of Mr. Frewin, Whangarei

6743

28 August 1925

Adjutant Champion, Salvation Army

No	91
Date of Notice	28 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hayston	Mary Winifred Evelyn Giffey
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Hayston	Mary Winifred Evelyn Giffney
	💍 1925/7645
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Waiotira	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Frewin, Whangarei
Folio	6743
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Adjutant Champion, Salvation Army

3 September 1925

David Goga Roberts
Vera Rita March

David Boyd Roberts
Vera Rita Marsh
💍 1925/6742

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

25
20

Whangarei
Hikurangi

3 days
All life

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

6742

3 September 1925

E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

No	92
Date of Notice	3 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Goga Roberts	Vera Rita March
BDM Match (88%)	David Boyd Roberts	Vera Rita Marsh
	💍 1925/6742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Hikurangi
Length of Residence	3 days	All life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	6742
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1925
Officiating Minister	E. P. Ramsey, Registrar

4 September 1925

Thomas Joseph Griffen
Gladys Kate Stevens

Thomas Joseph Griffin
Gladys Kate Stevens
💍 1925/6743

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

46
39

Kamo
Whangarei

13 years
4 years

Church Mission Hall, Whangarei

6743

4 September 1925

Rev. Rich, Church of England

No	93
Date of Notice	4 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph Griffen	Gladys Kate Stevens
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Joseph Griffin	Gladys Kate Stevens
	💍 1925/6743
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	46	39
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Whangarei
Length of Residence	13 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church Mission Hall, Whangarei
Folio	6743
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Rich, Church of England

9 September 1925

Thomas Ashton
Margaret Rice

Thomas Ashton
Margaret Rice
💍 1925/6744

Widower
Spinster

Orchardist
Waitress

55
36

Whangarei
Whangarei

9 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Whangarei

6744

9 September 1925

Rev. T. R. B. Woollavall, Methodist

No	94
Date of Notice	9 September 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ashton	Margaret Rice
	💍 1925/6744
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Waitress
Age	55	36
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	9 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Whangarei
Folio	6744
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. R. B. Woollavall, Methodist

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).