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 1071

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

28 January 1926

Kenneth McCollum
Mary Agnes Clark

Kenneth McCallum
Mary Agnes Clark
💍 1926/3108

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
19

Ngatea
Thames

8 years
16 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1877

James Robert Clark, Guardian

28 January 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	11
Date of Notice	28 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth McCollum	Mary Agnes Clark
BDM Match (97%)	Kenneth McCallum	Mary Agnes Clark
	💍 1926/3108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1877
Consent	James Robert Clark, Guardian
Date of Certificate	28 January 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1 February 1926

Joshua Lyes
Doris Martha Holden

Joshua Tulk Lyes
Doris Martha Holden
💍 1926/3115

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Exchange Clerk

25
24

Thames
Thames

25 years
24 years

St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames

1878

1 February 1926

Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	1 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Lyes	Doris Martha Holden
BDM Match (84%)	Joshua Tulk Lyes	Doris Martha Holden
	💍 1926/3115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Exchange Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	25 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	1878
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Milne, Presbyterian

3 February 1926

Ivan Manning
Nellie Shaw

Ivan Manning
Nellie Shaw
💍 1926/3116

Donald McBain
Nellie Shaw
💍 1926/6382

Bachelor
Spinster

Chef
Domestic Duties

38
21

Thames
Ngatea

3 years
21 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1879

3 February 1926

R. Lloyd, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	13
Date of Notice	3 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Manning	Nellie Shaw
	💍 1926/3116
BDM Match (65%)	Donald McBain	Nellie Shaw
	💍 1926/6382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chef	Domestic Duties
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Ngatea
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1879
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1926
Officiating Minister	R. Lloyd, Deputy Registrar of Marriages, Thames

5 February 1926

Thomas John Martin
May Elizabeth Burfoot

Thomas John Martin
May Elizabeth Burfoot
💍 1926/3117

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic Duties

26
21

Cambridge
Thames

7 months
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

1880

5 February 1926

Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	5 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas John Martin	May Elizabeth Burfoot
	💍 1926/3117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Thames
Length of Residence	7 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	1880
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

8 February 1926

Cyril Burgess
Evelyn Barbara Williams

Cyril Burgess
Evelyn Barbara Williams
💍 1926/3118

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
18

Thames
Paeroa

3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1881

Frederick James Williams, Father

8 February 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	15
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Burgess	Evelyn Barbara Williams
	💍 1926/3118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Paeroa
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1881
Consent	Frederick James Williams, Father
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, 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).