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 1044

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 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

19 February 1925

Thomas Keile
Margaret McMillan

Thomas Keith
Margaret McMillan
💍 1925/9891

Charles Leslie Hull
Margaret McMillan
💍 1925/8779

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
20

Thames
Thames

24 years
4 years

Residence of Angus McMillan, Sea Road, Thames

1670

Angus McMillan, father

19 February 1925

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Keile	Margaret McMillan
BDM Match (92%)	Thomas Keith	Margaret McMillan
	💍 1925/9891
BDM Match (66%)	Charles Leslie Hull	Margaret McMillan
	💍 1925/8779
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Angus McMillan, Sea Road, Thames
Folio	1670
Consent	Angus McMillan, father
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

23 February 1925

Peter Valentine Connelly
Bertha Vera Phoebe Baker

Peter Valentine Connelly
Bertha Vera Phoebe Baker
💍 1925/9892

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Exchange attendant

25
26

Thames
Thames

7 years
26 years

St Georges Church, Thames

1671

23 February 1925

Rev. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Valentine Connelly	Bertha Vera Phoebe Baker
	💍 1925/9892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Exchange attendant
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church, Thames
Folio	1671
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robertshawe, Church of England

23 February 1925

Horace Wellington Lovell
Annie Georgia Brownlee

Horace Wellington Dovell
Annie Georgina Brownlee
💍 1925/9893

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic duties

28
19

Thames
Thames

28 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

1672

Bertha Blunker (formerly Brownlee), mother

23 February 1925

Rev. Jas Milne, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Wellington Lovell	Annie Georgia Brownlee
BDM Match (96%)	Horace Wellington Dovell	Annie Georgina Brownlee
	💍 1925/9893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	28 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	1672
Consent	Bertha Blunker (formerly Brownlee), mother
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas Milne, Presbyterian

2 March 1925

Francis William Nicoll
Phyllis Millington Hayward

Does not appear to have proceeded.

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Ngatea
Ngatea

3 1/2 years
11 years

Registry office, Thames

2 March 1925

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	9
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis William Nicoll	Phyllis Millington Hayward
	💍 Does not appear to have proceeded.
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Registry office, Thames
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

9 March 1925

Leslie Hewson Whitehead
Doreen Esma Dalton

Leslie Hewson Whitehead
Doreen Esma Dalton
💍 1925/9894

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Exchange attendant

28
24

Thames
Thames

3 months
24 years

St James Church, Thames

1673

9 March 1925

Rev. Jas Milne, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Hewson Whitehead	Doreen Esma Dalton
	💍 1925/9894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Exchange attendant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St James Church, Thames
Folio	1673
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas Milne, Presbyterian

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).