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 966

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar J. S. Crowther

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

6 March 1926

Charles Evan Barr
Elaine Audrey Wallis

Charles Evan Carr
Elaine Audrey Wallis
💍 1926/1057

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 1/3/1926)

Company Representative
Domestic Duties

30
30

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 years
1 year

Presbyterian Manse, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua

1816

6 March 1926

Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Evan Barr	Elaine Audrey Wallis
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Evan Carr	Elaine Audrey Wallis
	💍 1926/1057
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 1/3/1926)
Profession	Company Representative	Domestic Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Pukuatua Street, Rotorua
Folio	1816
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. J. Atkins, Presbyterian

6 March 1926

Tea Pater
Ida Katene

Tea Patu
Ida Katene
💍 1926/1058

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
16

Ohinemutu
Ohinemutu

25 years
16 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1817

Keho Katene (Father)

6 March 1926

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tea Pater	Ida Katene
BDM Match (89%)	Tea Patu	Ida Katene
	💍 1926/1058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	16
Dwelling Place	Ohinemutu	Ohinemutu
Length of Residence	25 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1817
Consent	Keho Katene (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. S. Crowther, Registrar

12 March 1926

Reti Paul
Rangipahere Mitchell

Reti Paul
Rangipahere Mitchell
💍 1926/1059

Bachelor
Spinster

Secretary Hotel Employees Union
Domestic Duties

36
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

21 years
23 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

1818

12 March 1926

Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	12 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reti Paul	Rangipahere Mitchell
	💍 1926/1059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Secretary Hotel Employees Union	Domestic Duties
Age	36	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	21 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	1818
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Archdeacon F. W. Chatterton, Church of England

15 March 1926

Alfred Thomas Bowell
Lilian Ashworth

Alfred Thomas Cowell
Lilian Ashworth
💍 1926/1060

Bachelor
Widow (26/1/1911)

Porter
Domestic Duties

42
49

Rotorua
Rotorua

18 years
1 week

Methodist Parsonage, Haupapa Street, Rotorua

1819

15 March 1926

Rev. J. H. Allen, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Thomas Bowell	Lilian Ashworth
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Thomas Cowell	Lilian Ashworth
	💍 1926/1060
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (26/1/1911)
Profession	Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	42	49
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	18 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Haupapa Street, Rotorua
Folio	1819
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Allen, Methodist

31 March 1926

Robert William Henry Styles
Annie Smith

Robert William Henry Styles
Annie Smith
💍 1926/1062

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 10/3/1926)

Butcher
Domestic Duties

31
31

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 months
12 years

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

1820

31 March 1926

J. S. Crowther, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	31 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Henry Styles	Annie Smith
	💍 1926/1062
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 10/3/1926)
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	1820
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1926
Officiating Minister	J. S. Crowther, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).