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 1081

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1926

Noble Sandford Ladner
Lillian Vivian Woofe

Noble Sandford Ladner
Lillian Vivian Woofe
💍 1926/6784

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

20
21

Thames
Thames

7 days
13 years

Methodist Parsonage, Queen Street, Thames

7080

Frederick Ladner, Father

2 July 1926

Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	2 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Noble Sandford Ladner	Lillian Vivian Woofe
	💍 1926/6784
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	7080
Consent	Frederick Ladner, Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Burley, Methodist

9 July 1926

Sydney Walter Rolfe
Vera Josephine Ganley

Sydney Walter Rolfe
Vera Josephine Yanley
💍 1926/6785

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

28
27

Pipiroa
Pipiroa

3 years
6 years

Residence of Mr. William Ganley, Pipiroa

7081

9 July 1926

Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	9 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Walter Rolfe	Vera Josephine Ganley
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Walter Rolfe	Vera Josephine Yanley
	💍 1926/6785
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Pipiroa	Pipiroa
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. William Ganley, Pipiroa
Folio	7081
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

27 July 1926

George Henry Russell
Doris Kathleen Fitzpatrick

George Henry Russell
Doris Kathleen Fitzpatrick
💍 1926/6786

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Dressmaker

25
23

Eureka
Thames

2 years
23 years

St. Francis Church, Thames

7082

24 July 1926

F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	50
Date of Notice	27 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Russell	Doris Kathleen Fitzpatrick
	💍 1926/6786
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Dressmaker
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Eureka	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	7082
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1926
Officiating Minister	F. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

29 July 1926

Charles Keith Fox
Kathleen Mary Miller

Charles Keith Fox
Kathleen Mary Miller
💍 1926/6787

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
20

Turua
Kopuarahi

6 years
11 years

Presbyterian Church, Turua

7083

James C. Miller, Father

29 July 1926

J. C. Hartnis, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	29 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Keith Fox	Kathleen Mary Miller
	💍 1926/6787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Turua	Kopuarahi
Length of Residence	6 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Turua
Folio	7083
Consent	James C. Miller, Father
Date of Certificate	29 July 1926
Officiating Minister	J. C. Hartnis, Presbyterian

6 August 1926

Robert Alfred Francis Taylor
Rona Margaret Fisher

Robert Alfred Francis Taylor
Rona Margaret Fisher
💍 1926/6764

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi-driver
Waitress

20
20

Thames
Thames

8 months
20 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

7084

Arthur William Taylor, Father; R. G. Fisher, Father

9 August 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	6 August 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alfred Francis Taylor	Rona Margaret Fisher
	💍 1926/6764
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi-driver	Waitress
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	7084
Consent	Arthur William Taylor, Father; R. G. Fisher, Father
Date of Certificate	9 August 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, 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).