Intentions to Marry, 1926 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840537, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926b contains pages 471-946, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 875

District of Otorohanga Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar J. C. Quinlan

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

7 January 1926

Robert Denniger Robinson
Waveney Doreen Cosby

Robert Pinniger Robinson
Waveney Doreen Crosby
💍 1926/74

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Hospital Attendant
Clerk

28
22

Kihikihi
Otorohanga

5 months
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Otorohanga

1767

7 January 1926

Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Denniger Robinson	Waveney Doreen Cosby
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Pinniger Robinson	Waveney Doreen Crosby
	💍 1926/74
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Hospital Attendant	Clerk
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	5 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Otorohanga
Folio	1767
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

8 February 1926

Norman Edward John Rossiter
Eva Watt Buste

Norman Edward John Rossiter
Eva Watt Budge
💍 1926/3032

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Nurse

30
30

Clyde St, Epsom, Auckland
Kiokio

3 days
15 years

Public Hall, Kiokio

1768

8 February 1926

Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Edward John Rossiter	Eva Watt Buste
BDM Match (93%)	Norman Edward John Rossiter	Eva Watt Budge
	💍 1926/3032
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Nurse
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Clyde St, Epsom, Auckland	Kiokio
Length of Residence	3 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Public Hall, Kiokio
Folio	1768
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. H. Kedgley, Presbyterian

15 March 1926

William Victor Graham
Veronica Mary Trapski

William Victor Graham
Veronica Mary Trapski
💍 1926/3033

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Clerk

28
27

Dunedin
Otorohanga

2 days
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Otorohanga

1769

15 March 1926

Rev. M. Hunt, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Victor Graham	Veronica Mary Trapski
	💍 1926/3033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Otorohanga
Folio	1769
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Hunt, Roman Catholic

17 March 1926

Lewis Joseph Higham
Thelma Gretchen Gibb

Lewis Joseph Higham
Thelma Gretchen Gibb
💍 1926/3034

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Exchange Attendant

23
21

Te Kuiti
Otorohanga

1 year
3 days

Registrar's Office, Te Kuiti

1770

17 March 1926

J. C. Quinlan, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	17 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Joseph Higham	Thelma Gretchen Gibb
	💍 1926/3034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Exchange Attendant
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Otorohanga
Length of Residence	1 year	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Te Kuiti
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. C. Quinlan, Registrar

20 March 1926

Arthur Egbert Davenport
Rebecca Jane Leatham

Arthur Egbert Davenport
Rebecca Jane Leatham
💍 1926/3532

Hugh Esdale Glasgow
Rebecca Jane Leatham
💍 1926/10776

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer
Domestic duties

24
22

Hamilton
Kiokio

1 day
15 years

Church of England, Hamilton

2922

20 March 1926

Rev. C. J. Bush-King, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	20 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Egbert Davenport	Rebecca Jane Leatham
	💍 1926/3532
BDM Match (61%)	Hugh Esdale Glasgow	Rebecca Jane Leatham
	💍 1926/10776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Kiokio
Length of Residence	1 day	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hamilton
Folio	2922
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. J. Bush-King, Church of England

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).