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 1346

District of Stratford Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar Haney

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

10 February 1926

Norman Harold Moss
Rita Kathleen Grubb

Norman Harold Moss
Rita Kathleen Grubb
💍 1926/1133

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Home Duties

29
20

Stratford
Stratford

3 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Stratford

2041

10 February 1926

Rev. G. P. Hunt, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	10 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Harold Moss	Rita Kathleen Grubb
	💍 1926/1133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Home Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	2041
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Hunt, Methodist

16 February 1926

Louis Claude Vicary
Mabel Winifred Geraghty

Louis Claude Vieary
Mabel Winifred Geraghty
💍 1926/1134

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Typist

24
23

Stratford
New Plymouth

3 days
—

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

2042

16 February 1926

Rev. Thomas J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	16 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis Claude Vicary	Mabel Winifred Geraghty
BDM Match (97%)	Louis Claude Vieary	Mabel Winifred Geraghty
	💍 1926/1134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Typist
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Stratford	New Plymouth
Length of Residence	3 days	—
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	2042
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

26 February 1926

William Francis Lawrence
Sarah Alice Jones

William Francis Lawrence
Sarah Alice Jones
💍 1926/1135

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Waitress

27
24

Stratford
Stratford

5 years
12 years

Methodist Church, Stratford

2043

26 February 1926

Rev. Geo. P. Hunt, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	26 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Lawrence	Sarah Alice Jones
	💍 1926/1135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Waitress
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Stratford
Folio	2043
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. P. Hunt, Methodist

5 March 1926

Robert John Hogg
Rosalie Agatha Robson

Robert John Hogg
Rosalie Agatha Cookson
💍 1926/1137

Widower 19.1.25
Widow 27.9.21

Company Secretary
Farmer

66
36

Midhirst
Midhirst

20 years
36 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

2044

5 March 1926

Rev. Thomas J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	5 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert John Hogg	Rosalie Agatha Robson
BDM Match (93%)	Robert John Hogg	Rosalie Agatha Cookson
	💍 1926/1137
Condition	Widower 19.1.25	Widow 27.9.21
Profession	Company Secretary	Farmer
Age	66	36
Dwelling Place	Midhirst	Midhirst
Length of Residence	20 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	2044
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas J. Cahill, Roman Catholic

6 March 1926

Charles William Walker
Beverly Miriam Taylor

Charles William Walker
Beverly Miriam Taylor
💍 1926/1138

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
19

Ngaere
Stratford

22 years
19 years

Church of The Holy Trinity, Stratford

2045

Harold Chapman Taylor, father

6 March 1926

Rev. J. L. A. Kayll, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles William Walker	Beverly Miriam Taylor
	💍 1926/1138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Stratford
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of The Holy Trinity, Stratford
Folio	2045
Consent	Harold Chapman Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. L. A. Kayll, 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).