Intentions to Marry, 1926 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840538, 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.

1926c contains pages 947-1388, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 965

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar H. Crowther

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 February 1926

Kenneth MacCormick
Margaret King Duncan

Kenneth MacCormick
Margaret King Duncan
💍 1926/1052

Bachelor
Spinster

Surgeon
Domestic Duties

35
18

Auckland
Rotorua

4 years
6 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

1811

J. D. Duncan (Father)

20 February 1926

Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	20 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth MacCormick	Margaret King Duncan
	💍 1926/1052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surgeon	Domestic Duties
Age	35	18
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	1811
Consent	J. D. Duncan (Father)
Date of Certificate	20 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

23 February 1926

Westall Curtis Holden
Ruby May Williamson

Westall Curtis Holder
Ruby May Williamson
💍 1926/1053

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z.R.
Domestic Duties

24
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

1 week
1 week

Residence of J. J. Williamson, Rotorua

1812

23 February 1926

Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	23 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Westall Curtis Holden	Ruby May Williamson
BDM Match (98%)	Westall Curtis Holder	Ruby May Williamson
	💍 1926/1053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z.R.	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of J. J. Williamson, Rotorua
Folio	1812
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

24 February 1926

William Alexander Alcock
Elvie Agnes Patterson

William Alexander Alcock
Elvie Agnes Patterson
💍 1926/1054

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Worker
Domestic Duties

19
18

Mamaku
Mamaku

2 years
4 months

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

1813

G. J. Alcock (Father) and J. Patterson (Father)

24 February 1926

Rev. W. T. F. Skey, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	24 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Alcock	Elvie Agnes Patterson
	💍 1926/1054
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Worker	Domestic Duties
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Mamaku
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	1813
Consent	G. J. Alcock (Father) and J. Patterson (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. F. Skey, Church of England

2 March 1926

Alexander Bruce Angus
Edith Mary Wright

Alexander Bruce Angus
Edith Mary Wright
💍 1926/1055

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 8/7/1925)

Garage Proprietor
Domestic Duties

45
27

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 years
3 years

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

1814

2 March 1926

Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	2 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bruce Angus	Edith Mary Wright
	💍 1926/1055
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 8/7/1925)
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	45	27
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	1814
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

6 March 1926

Michael John Hefferen
Edna Mildred Lillas

Michael John Hefferen
Edna Mildred Lillas
💍 1926/1056

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic Duties

24
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

1 week
1 day

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1815

W. Lillas (Father)

6 March 1926

J. L. Crowther, Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael John Hefferen	Edna Mildred Lillas
	💍 1926/1056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	1 week	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1815
Consent	W. Lillas (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. L. Crowther, Registrar

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).