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 1069

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1926 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

9 January 1926

Arthur William Lowe
Mavis Mary Stevenson

Arthur William Lowe
Mavis Mary Stevenson
💍 1926/3080

Percy William Broughan
Eva Mary Stevenson
💍 1926/3817

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

20
20

Auckland
Waiomio

1 day
6 weeks

St. George's Church

1867

William Charles Lowe, father; Edward Stevenson, father

9 January 1926

Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	9 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Lowe	Mavis Mary Stevenson
	💍 1926/3080
BDM Match (60%)	Percy William Broughan	Eva Mary Stevenson
	💍 1926/3817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Waiomio
Length of Residence	1 day	6 weeks
Marriage Place	St. George's Church
Folio	1867
Consent	William Charles Lowe, father; Edward Stevenson, father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

11 January 1926

Robert Moss Taylor
Margaret Evelyn Afarey McKenzie

Robert Moss Taylor
Margaret Evelyn Audrey McKenzie
💍 1926/3081

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist
Domestic Duties

25
29

Thames
Thames

25 years
4 years

St. George's Church

1868

11 January 1926

Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	11 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Moss Taylor	Margaret Evelyn Afarey McKenzie
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Moss Taylor	Margaret Evelyn Audrey McKenzie
	💍 1926/3081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Church
Folio	1868
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

12 January 1926

George Casey
Susannah Geraty

George Casey
Susannah Geraty
💍 1926/3082

Bachelor
Widow

Miner
Storekeeper

39
55

Thames
Thames

2 weeks
11 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1869

12 January 1926

N. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Casey	Susannah Geraty
	💍 1926/3082
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Miner	Storekeeper
Age	39	55
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 weeks	11 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1869
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1926
Officiating Minister	N. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

13 January 1926

Alder William Bennett
Violet May Nowlep

Alder William Bennett
Violet May Vowles
💍 1926/3084

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry driver
Domestic Duties

26
19

Hikutaia
Komata

8 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1870

George Henry Nowlep, father

13 January 1926

N. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alder William Bennett	Violet May Nowlep
BDM Match (94%)	Alder William Bennett	Violet May Vowles
	💍 1926/3084
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry driver	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Komata
Length of Residence	8 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1870
Consent	George Henry Nowlep, father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1926
Officiating Minister	N. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

14 January 1926

John Russell
Elizabeth Skidmore

John Russell
Elizabeth Skidmore
💍 1926/3085

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Dressmaker

59
55

Thames
Thames

5 years
5 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1871

14 January 1926

R. Lloyd, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Russell	Elizabeth Skidmore
	💍 1926/3085
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	59	55
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1871
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1926
Officiating Minister	R. Lloyd, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Thames

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).