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 1056

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

30 October 1925

Arthur St John White
Elizabeth Deacon

Arthur St John White
Elizabeth Deacon
💍 1925/9370

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
16

Kopuarahe
Kopuarahe

2 years
2 years

St Georges Anglican Church, Thames

9485

John Deacon, father

30 October 1925

Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	47
Date of Notice	30 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur St John White	Elizabeth Deacon
	💍 1925/9370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	16
Dwelling Place	Kopuarahe	Kopuarahe
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church, Thames
Folio	9485
Consent	John Deacon, father
Date of Certificate	30 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

30 October 1925

James Herbert Denton
Elsie Annie Bidois

James Herbert Denton
Elsie Annie Bidois
💍 1925/9371

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

24
26

Puriri
Puriri

2 weeks
1 week

Office of Registrar, Thames

9486

30 October 1925

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	48
Date of Notice	30 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Herbert Denton	Elsie Annie Bidois
	💍 1925/9371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	2 weeks	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Thames
Folio	9486
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

5 November 1925

George Rupert Burgess
Hannah Elizabeth Griffin

George Rupert Burgess
Hannah Elizabeth Griffin
💍 1925/9350

Bachelor
Divorced (date of Decree absolute 1 July 1921)

Labourer
Domestic duties

59
57

Thames
Thames

43 years
23 years

Office of Registrar, Thames

9487

5 November 1925

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	49
Date of Notice	5 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Rupert Burgess	Hannah Elizabeth Griffin
	💍 1925/9350
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (date of Decree absolute 1 July 1921)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	59	57
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	43 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Thames
Folio	9487
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

20 November 1925

John Clark Wallace
Louie Isaacs

John Clark Wallace
Louie Isaacs
💍 1925/9351

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Machinist

21
26

Thames
Thames

18 months
21 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Thames

9488

20 November 1925

Rev. Jas. Milne, Presbyterian

No	50
Date of Notice	20 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clark Wallace	Louie Isaacs
	💍 1925/9351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Machinist
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	21 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	9488
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Milne, Presbyterian

23 November 1925

George Hodder
Myrtle Gladys Sewell

George Hodder
Myrtle Gladys Sewell
💍 1925/9352

Bachelor
Divorced (date Decree absolute June 1925)

Labourer
Domestic duties

38
22

Thames
Thames

15 months
15 months

Office of Registrar, Thames

9489

23 November 1925

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	51
Date of Notice	23 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hodder	Myrtle Gladys Sewell
	💍 1925/9352
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (date Decree absolute June 1925)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	15 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Thames
Folio	9489
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).