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 969

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar Th. 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

31 May 1926

Watene Ngaro Kokiri
Lily Bullen

Watene Ngaro Kokiri
Lily Cullen
💍 1926/4351

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic

32
26

Rotorua
Rotorua

32 years
3 years

Residence of Mrs W. Baker, Gray Street, Rotorua

4496

31 May 1926

Rev. L. B. Harrison, Methodist

No	31
Date of Notice	31 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Watene Ngaro Kokiri	Lily Bullen
BDM Match (95%)	Watene Ngaro Kokiri	Lily Cullen
	💍 1926/4351
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	32 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs W. Baker, Gray Street, Rotorua
Folio	4496
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. B. Harrison, Methodist

1 June 1926

Allan Stedman Fraser
Ethel Walker

Allan Steedman Fraser
Ethel Walker
💍 1926/4352

Divorced (Degree Absolute 8/9/1925)
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

30
28

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
23 years

Residence of Mrs J. Walker, Reddon Street, Rotorua

4497

1 June 1926

Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	1 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Stedman Fraser	Ethel Walker
BDM Match (98%)	Allan Steedman Fraser	Ethel Walker
	💍 1926/4352
Condition	Divorced (Degree Absolute 8/9/1925)	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs J. Walker, Reddon Street, Rotorua
Folio	4497
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

4 June 1926

Henry George Innes
Jessie Sykes

Henry George Innes
Jessie Sykes
💍 1926/4353

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager
Typist

42
45

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

4498

4 June 1926

Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	4 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Innes	Jessie Sykes
	💍 1926/4353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager	Typist
Age	42	45
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	4498
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

4 June 1926

Edward Darby
Kahu Matene

Edward Darby
Kahu Matene
💍 1926/4354

Bachelor
Widow (7/8/1877)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

74
72

Ohinemutu
Ohinemutu

23 years
33 years

St Faith's Church of England, Ohinemutu

4499

4 June 1926

Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	4 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Darby	Kahu Matene
	💍 1926/4354
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (7/8/1877)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	74	72
Dwelling Place	Ohinemutu	Ohinemutu
Length of Residence	23 years	33 years
Marriage Place	St Faith's Church of England, Ohinemutu
Folio	4499
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Paora Temuera, Church of England

15 June 1926

Percy Morrison Long
Jane Ellen Brown

Percy Morrison Long
Jane Ellen Brown
💍 1926/4355

Divorced (Degree Absolute 10/3/1926)
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic Duties

56
45

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

4500

15 June 1926

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	15 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Morrison Long	Jane Ellen Brown
	💍 1926/4355
Condition	Divorced (Degree Absolute 10/3/1926)	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic Duties
Age	56	45
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	4500
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1926
Officiating Minister	J. S. 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).