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 1085

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 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

19 October 1926

Roy Menzies
Dulcie Jessie Forrest Millington

Roy Menzies
Dulcie Jessie Forrest Millington
💍 1926/8433

Bachelor
Spinster

Manufacturer
Drapers assistant

27
23

Thames
Thames

27 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Thames

9695

19 October 1926

Rev. A. Burley, Methodist

No	64
Date of Notice	19 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Menzies	Dulcie Jessie Forrest Millington
	💍 1926/8433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manufacturer	Drapers assistant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	9695
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Burley, Methodist

29 October 1926

Charles Henry Smith Oakley
Edna May Rowe

Charles Henry Smith Oakley
Edna May Rowe
💍 1926/8434

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
23

Thames
Thames

4 years
23 years

St Georges Church of England, Thames

9696

29 October 1926

Rev. T. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	65
Date of Notice	29 October 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Smith Oakley	Edna May Rowe
	💍 1926/8434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Church of England, Thames
Folio	9696
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Robertshawe, Church of England

23 November 1926

Samuel Joseph Soffe
Iris Linda Ivy Jesen

Samuel Joseph Soffe
Iris Linda Ivy Jensen
💍 1926/8435

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 16.12.25

Contractor
Domestic duties

42
34

Puriri
Puriri

12 months
4 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

9697

23 November 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	66
Date of Notice	23 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Joseph Soffe	Iris Linda Ivy Jesen
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel Joseph Soffe	Iris Linda Ivy Jensen
	💍 1926/8435
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 16.12.25
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Puriri	Puriri
Length of Residence	12 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	9697
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

29 November 1926

Arthur Basil Souel Ludwig
Margaret Alice Boyle

Arthur Basil Lionel Ludwig
Margaret Alice Boyle
💍 1926/8436

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Dressmaker

26
21

Ngatea
Thames

26 years
21 years

St Francis Church, Thames

9698

29 November 1926

Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	67
Date of Notice	29 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Basil Souel Ludwig	Margaret Alice Boyle
BDM Match (94%)	Arthur Basil Lionel Ludwig	Margaret Alice Boyle
	💍 1926/8436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Thames
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church, Thames
Folio	9698
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

29 November 1926

Francis Eugene Hale
Agnes McMillan

Francis Eugene Hale
Agnes McMillan
💍 1926/8437

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Kopuarahi
Thames

22 years
6 years

St James Presbyterian Church, Thames

9699

Angus McMillan, father

29 November 1926

Rev. Jas. Milne, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	29 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Eugene Hale	Agnes McMillan
	💍 1926/8437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Kopuarahi	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St James Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	9699
Consent	Angus McMillan, father
Date of Certificate	29 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Milne, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).