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 1070

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

18 January 1926

Arthur William Datton
Emily Agnes Russek

Arthur William Yatton
Emily Agnes Russek
💍 1926/3086

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic Duties

26
20

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

1871

Wenzel Russek, Father

18 January 1926

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	6
Date of Notice	18 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur William Datton	Emily Agnes Russek
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur William Yatton	Emily Agnes Russek
	💍 1926/3086
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic Duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	1871
Consent	Wenzel Russek, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1926
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

19 January 1926

Leslie Fleming Taylor
Mary McConnell

Leslie Fleming Taylor
Mary McConnell
💍 1926/3087

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic Duties

22
24

Thames
Thames

22 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church at Purua

1872

19 January 1926

Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	19 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Fleming Taylor	Mary McConnell
	💍 1926/3087
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic Duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	22 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Purua
Folio	1872
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

19 January 1926

John Grant
Bernadette Mary Gillard

John Grant
Bernadette Mary Gillard
💍 1926/3088

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Clerk

25
24

Thames
Thames

16 years
24 years

St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames

1874

19 January 1926

Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Grant	Bernadette Mary Gillard
	💍 1926/3088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	16 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	1874
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

22 January 1926

Albert John Dickson
Kate Verran

Albert John Dickson
Kate Verran
💍 1926/3089

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

24
26

Thames
Thames

5 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Thames

1875

22 January 1926

Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	22 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Dickson	Kate Verran
	💍 1926/3089
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	1875
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Ashcroft, Methodist

26 January 1926

Wesley Harvey
Barbara Angie Robinson

Wesley Harvey
Barbara Annie Robinson
💍 1926/3097

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

21
30

Thames
Thames

6 weeks
30 years

Church of Christ, Thames

1876

26 January 1926

Rev. H. Langford, Church of Christ

No	10
Date of Notice	26 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wesley Harvey	Barbara Angie Robinson
BDM Match (98%)	Wesley Harvey	Barbara Annie Robinson
	💍 1926/3097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	21	30
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 weeks	30 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Thames
Folio	1876
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Langford, Church of Christ

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).