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 1078

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

9 June 1926

Colin Roderick McRae
Thelma Dorothy Taylor

Colin Roderick McRae
Thelma Dorothy Taylor
💍 1926/4447

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic duties

23 years
21 years

Thames
Thames

4 months
21 years

Registrar's Office, Thames

4568

9 June 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	9 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Roderick McRae	Thelma Dorothy Taylor
	💍 1926/4447
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic duties
Age	23 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	4568
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

10 June 1926

Harold Edward Smith
Eileen Clara Winifred Swift

Harold Edward Smith
Eileen Clara Winnifred Swift
💍 1926/4448

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
23

Hikutai
Hikutai

7 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

4569

10 June 1926

Rev. Father Doherty, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	10 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edward Smith	Eileen Clara Winifred Swift
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Edward Smith	Eileen Clara Winnifred Swift
	💍 1926/4448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Hikutai	Hikutai
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	4569
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Doherty, Roman Catholic

10 June 1926

Henry Alfred Jobe
Eveline Violet Boxhead

Henry Alfred Jobe
Eveline Violet Coxhead
💍 1926/4450

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Drapers assistant

29
23

Kaueranga
Thames

29 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Thames

4570

10 June 1926

Rev. Burley, Methodist

No	41
Date of Notice	10 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Alfred Jobe	Eveline Violet Boxhead
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Alfred Jobe	Eveline Violet Coxhead
	💍 1926/4450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Drapers assistant
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Kaueranga	Thames
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	4570
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Burley, Methodist

11 June 1926

Charles Thomas Stretton
Agnes Ethel Berney

Charles Thoms Stretton
Agnes Ethel Berney
💍 1926/4451

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
23

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

2 years
15 years

Memorial Church, Waitakaruru

4571

11 June 1926

Rev. Averill, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	11 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Thomas Stretton	Agnes Ethel Berney
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Thoms Stretton	Agnes Ethel Berney
	💍 1926/4451
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Memorial Church, Waitakaruru
Folio	4571
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Averill, Church of England

11 June 1926

Wesley Booth Deble
Ruby May Dorage

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

39
32

Thames
Thames

39 years
31 years

Baptist Church, Thames

4572

11 June 1926

Rev. Lambert, Baptist

No	43
Date of Notice	11 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wesley Booth Deble	Ruby May Dorage
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	39 years	31 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Thames
Folio	4572
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Lambert, Baptist

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).