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 942

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1925

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

11 February 1925

George Edmund Archer
Dorothy Cardwell

George Edmund Archer
Dorothy Caudwell
💍 1925/1066

Divorced (Decree absolute 10/12/1924)
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

45
25

Rotorua
Rotorua

35 years
5 weeks

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1614

11 February 1925

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	11 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edmund Archer	Dorothy Cardwell
BDM Match (97%)	George Edmund Archer	Dorothy Caudwell
	💍 1925/1066
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 10/12/1924)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	45	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	35 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1614
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. S. Crowther, Registrar

11 March 1925

Charles Tuffnell
Blanche Mildred Lloyd

Charles Tuffnell
Blanche Mildred Lloyd
💍 1925/1067

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
17

Rotorua
Rotorua

17 months
2 years

Church of England Mission Church, Ohinemutu

1615

H. A. Lloyd (Father)

11 March 1925

Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	11 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Tuffnell	Blanche Mildred Lloyd
	💍 1925/1067
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	17 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Mission Church, Ohinemutu
Folio	1615
Consent	H. A. Lloyd (Father)
Date of Certificate	11 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

14 March 1925

Arthur Moon Pallister
Sophy Yates

Arthur Moon Pallister
Sophy Yates
💍 1925/1068

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 4/3/1925)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
31

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 1/2 years
30 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1616

14 March 1925

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	14 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Moon Pallister	Sophy Yates
	💍 1925/1068
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 4/3/1925)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	31
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1616
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. S. Crowther, Registrar

2 March 1925

Alastair McKerrow
Alma Mable Hall

Alastair McKerrow
Alma Mable Hall
💍 1925/1069

Bachelor
Spinster

Bath Attendant
Waitress

28
18

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 months
7 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1617

Guardian (None)

17 March 1925

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alastair McKerrow	Alma Mable Hall
	💍 1925/1069
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bath Attendant	Waitress
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 months	7 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1617
Consent	Guardian (None)
Date of Certificate	17 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. S. Crowther, Registrar

23 March 1925

John Allen Onion
Susannah Grace Norris

John Allen Onion
Susannah Grace Norris
💍 1925/1070

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

29
26

Ngongotaha
Ngongotaha

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church, Ngongotaha

1618

23 March 1925

Rev. J. H. Allen, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allen Onion	Susannah Grace Norris
	💍 1925/1070
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ngongotaha	Ngongotaha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ngongotaha
Folio	1618
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Allen, 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).