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 1072

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 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

8 February 1926

William Thomas Scott Cook
Annie Elizabeth Calvert

William Thomas Scott Cook
Annie Elizabeth Calvert
💍 1926/3119

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper

25
23

Thames
Thames

4 years
1 month

Anglican Church, Thames

1882

8 February 1926

Rev. Averil, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Scott Cook	Annie Elizabeth Calvert
	💍 1926/3119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Thames
Folio	1882
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Averil, Anglican

11 February 1926

Raymond Harris
Ada Alva Courtney

Raymond Harris
Ada Alva Courtney
💍 1926/3120

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter factory Assistant
Book-keeper

21
19

Ngatea
Kerepeehi

3 years
6 months

Residence of George Courtney, Kerepeehi

1883

George Courtney, Father

11 February 1926

Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	11 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Harris	Ada Alva Courtney
	💍 1926/3120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter factory Assistant	Book-keeper
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Kerepeehi
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of George Courtney, Kerepeehi
Folio	1883
Consent	George Courtney, Father
Date of Certificate	11 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

1 March 1926

Archibald Harold Brink Jonsen
Lillian Syme

Archibald Harold Brink Jesen
Lillian Syme
💍 1926/3121

Divorced (Decree Absolute 16.12.25)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
28

Waitakaruru
Waitakaruru

9 years
3 years

The Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames

1884

1 March 1926

Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	1 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Harold Brink Jonsen	Lillian Syme
BDM Match (97%)	Archibald Harold Brink Jesen	Lillian Syme
	💍 1926/3121
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 16.12.25)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Waitakaruru
Length of Residence	9 years	3 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	1884
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian

6 March 1926

Reginald Andrews
Gladys May

Reginald Andrews
Gladys May
💍 1926/3098

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipwright
Hospital Matron

39
32

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

St. George's Anglican Church, Thames

1885

6 March 1926

Rev. R. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Andrews	Gladys May
	💍 1926/3098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipwright	Hospital Matron
Age	39	32
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. George's Anglican Church, Thames
Folio	1885
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Robertshawe, Church of England

15 March 1926

John Joseph Mullins
Lily Margaret Gilmore

John Joseph Mullins
Lily Margaret Gilmore
💍 1926/3099

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic Duties

26
21

Thames
Thames

4 years
7 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

1886

15 March 1926

Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Mullins	Lily Margaret Gilmore
	💍 1926/3099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	1886
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

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).