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 1147

District of Waihi Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar W. R. Free

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

5 January 1926

Harry Pearson
Kathleen Hurd

Harry Frearson
Kathleen Hurd
💍 1926/3111

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

33
20

Waikino
Waikino

33 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Waihi

1897

Edith Hurd, mother

5 January 1926

W. R. Free, Registrar of marriages, Waihi

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Pearson	Kathleen Hurd
BDM Match (93%)	Harry Frearson	Kathleen Hurd
	💍 1926/3111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Waikino	Waikino
Length of Residence	33 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Waihi
Folio	1897
Consent	Edith Hurd, mother
Date of Certificate	5 January 1926
Officiating Minister	W. R. Free, Registrar of marriages, Waihi

3 February 1926

James Murray Birse
Edna Eileen Thornton

James Murray Birse
Edna Eileen Thornton
💍 1926/3112

Bachelor
Spinster

Compressor attendant
Dressmaker

24
21

Waihi
Waihi

18 years
19 years

Church of England, Waihi

1898

3 February 1926

Rev G. R. Barnett, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	3 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Murray Birse	Edna Eileen Thornton
	💍 1926/3112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Compressor attendant	Dressmaker
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	18 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waihi
Folio	1898
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev G. R. Barnett, Church of England

4 February 1926

Henry James Dwyer
Kathleen Mary Smyth

Henry James Dwyer
Kathleen Mary Smyth
💍 1926/3113

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

29
24

Waihi
Waihi

7 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Waihi

1899

4 February 1926

Rev J. P. O'Hara, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Dwyer	Kathleen Mary Smyth
	💍 1926/3113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	7 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Waihi
Folio	1899
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev J. P. O'Hara, Roman Catholic

4 February 1926

William Leach
Mary Lindsay Hands

William Leach
Mary Lindsay Hands
💍 1926/3114

Divorced (decree absolute 15.12.1925)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
22

Waihi
Waihi

20 years
22 years

Residence of Claude Hands, Frankton Rd, Waihi

1900

4 February 1926

Rev A. Cottom, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leach	Mary Lindsay Hands
	💍 1926/3114
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 15.12.1925)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	22
Dwelling Place	Waihi	Waihi
Length of Residence	20 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Claude Hands, Frankton Rd, Waihi
Folio	1900
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Cottom, Methodist

19 February 1926

George William Brown
Mona Neen Sophia Owens

George William Brown
Mona Veen Sophia Owens
💍 1926/1931

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

24
21

Paeroa
Waihi

15 years
21 years

Church of England, Waihi

1901

19 February 1926

G. R. Barnett, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	19 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Brown	Mona Neen Sophia Owens
BDM Match (98%)	George William Brown	Mona Veen Sophia Owens
	💍 1926/1931
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Waihi
Length of Residence	15 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waihi
Folio	1901
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1926
Officiating Minister	G. R. Barnett, Church of England

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).