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 1048

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

20 May 1925

Wynard Lawson
Mary Kate Stewart

Wynard Lawson
Mary Kate Stewart
💍 1925/4385

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker
Domestic Duties

20
19

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

St. France's Church, Thames

4162

Tunoa Mihare Lawson, Father; Emily Apunui Stewart, Mother

20 May 1925

F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	20 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wynard Lawson	Mary Kate Stewart
	💍 1925/4385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker	Domestic Duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. France's Church, Thames
Folio	4162
Consent	Tunoa Mihare Lawson, Father; Emily Apunui Stewart, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 May 1925
Officiating Minister	F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

20 May 1925

Eric John Moore Wilton
Irene Rose Lowe

Eric John Moore Wilton
Irene Rose Lowe
💍 1925/4386

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic Duties

21
17

Tapu
Dwelling of G. H. Lang, Upper Albert Street, Thames

4 months
3 years

Dwelling of G. H. Lang, Upper Albert Street, Thames

4163

William Charles Lowe, Father

20 May 1925

H. Langford, Church of Christ

No	21
Date of Notice	20 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric John Moore Wilton	Irene Rose Lowe
	💍 1925/4386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Tapu	Dwelling of G. H. Lang, Upper Albert Street, Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of G. H. Lang, Upper Albert Street, Thames
Folio	4163
Consent	William Charles Lowe, Father
Date of Certificate	20 May 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Langford, Church of Christ

26 May 1925

Melnotte Rex McEnteer
Linda Gibson

Melnotte Rex McEnteer
Linda Gibson
💍 1925/4387

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Draper's Assistant

26
24

Thames
Thames

3 years
24 years

Baptist Church, Thames

4164

26 May 1925

Rev. Lambert, Baptist

No	22
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Melnotte Rex McEnteer	Linda Gibson
	💍 1925/4387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Draper's Assistant
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	4164
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lambert, Baptist

13 June 1925

Edward Andrew Twamley Smith
Doris Fowler

Edward Andrew Twainley Smith
Doris Fowler
💍 1925/4388

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand
Domestic Duties

20
18

Puriri
Tararu, Thames

12 years
4 years

St. George's Church, Thames

4165

Andrew Smith, Father; John Fowler, Father

13 June 1925

N. F. E. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	23
Date of Notice	13 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Andrew Twamley Smith	Doris Fowler
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Andrew Twainley Smith	Doris Fowler
	💍 1925/4388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand	Domestic Duties
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Tararu, Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church, Thames
Folio	4165
Consent	Andrew Smith, Father; John Fowler, Father
Date of Certificate	13 June 1925
Officiating Minister	N. F. E. Robertshawe, Church of England

16 June 1925

Edward Stanley Lemon
Mercy Evelyn Vowles

Edward Stanley Lemon
Mercy Evelyn Vowles
💍 1925/4389

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
22

Hikutaia
Hikutaia

12 months
15 years

St. Mary's Church, Hikutaia

4166

16 June 1925

Rev. Costain, Methodist

No	24
Date of Notice	16 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stanley Lemon	Mercy Evelyn Vowles
	💍 1925/4389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Hikutaia
Length of Residence	12 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Hikutaia
Folio	4166
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Costain, 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).