Intentions to Marry, 1927 Albertland to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840544, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1927 is bound in four volumes (a to d) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1927a contains pages 1-926, covering districts from Albertland to Raglan

Page 481

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1927 Registrar Roche

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

3 January 1927

Leslie Herbert Seamer
Beatrice Webber

Leslie Herbert Seamer
Beatrice Webber
💍 1927/1611

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic

23
21

Hunua
Hunua

2 Months
3 Months

Residence of George Leitch, Hunua

1414

3 January 1927

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Herbert Seamer	Beatrice Webber
	💍 1927/1611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hunua	Hunua
Length of Residence	2 Months	3 Months
Marriage Place	Residence of George Leitch, Hunua
Folio	1414
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

1 February 1927

William Alexander Mackenzie
Edith May Blewes

William Alexander MacKenzie
Edith May Clewes
💍 1927/1612

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Machinist

33
23

Drury
Papakura

4 Years
4 Years

Residence of W. W. Mackwick, Papakura

1415

1 February 1927

Rev. John Hubbard, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Mackenzie	Edith May Blewes
BDM Match (95%)	William Alexander MacKenzie	Edith May Clewes
	💍 1927/1612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Machinist
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Drury	Papakura
Length of Residence	4 Years	4 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. W. Mackwick, Papakura
Folio	1415
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Hubbard, Presbyterian

4 February 1927

Thomas Herbert Burton
Elsie Maude Finlay

Thomas Herbert Burton
Elsie Maude Finlay
💍 1927/1613

Bachelor
Spinster

Minister of Religion
Domestic

31
29

Wiri
Wiri

5 Months
4 Years

Methodist Church, Manurewa

1416

4 February 1927

Rev. J. J. Read, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	4 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Herbert Burton	Elsie Maude Finlay
	💍 1927/1613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Minister of Religion	Domestic
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Wiri	Wiri
Length of Residence	5 Months	4 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manurewa
Folio	1416
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Read, Methodist

14 February 1927

Sydney Edward Mehaffy
Annie Matilda Dinan

Sydney Edward Mehaffy
Annie Madilia Dinan
💍 1927/1614

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
35

Drury
Ararimu

5 Years
35 Years

Roman Catholic Church, Pukekohe

1417

14 February 1927

Rev. Father J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	14 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Edward Mehaffy	Annie Matilda Dinan
BDM Match (95%)	Sydney Edward Mehaffy	Annie Madilia Dinan
	💍 1927/1614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	35
Dwelling Place	Drury	Ararimu
Length of Residence	5 Years	35 Years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Pukekohe
Folio	1417
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

14 February 1927

James Graham Shaw
Olive Gladys Johnston

James Graham Shaw
Olive Gladys Johnston
💍 1927/1615

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 29 September 1925)

Farmer
Draper Assistant

31
26

Clevedon
Papakura

31 Years
6 Years

Residence of Mr. R. J. Watson, Papakura

1418

14 February 1927

Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	14 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Graham Shaw	Olive Gladys Johnston
	💍 1927/1615
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 29 September 1925)
Profession	Farmer	Draper Assistant
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Papakura
Length of Residence	31 Years	6 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. J. Watson, Papakura
Folio	1418
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

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).