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 491

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 December 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

13 October 1927

Henry George Osman
Ivy Lillian Pates

Henry George Osman
Ivy Lillian Pates
💍 1927/9037

Widower
Spinster

Quarryman
Domestic

40
15

Papakura
Papakura

16 months
10 months

Registrar's Office, Papakura

9314

John Pates, Frances Pates, Parents

13 October 1927

E. F. Roche, Registrar

No	33
Date of Notice	13 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Osman	Ivy Lillian Pates
	💍 1927/9037
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Quarryman	Domestic
Age	40	15
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	16 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Papakura
Folio	9314
Consent	John Pates, Frances Pates, Parents
Date of Certificate	13 October 1927
Officiating Minister	E. F. Roche, Registrar

21 October 1927

Robert Flanagan
Kathleen Mary Afford

Robert Flanagan
Kathleen Mary Afford
💍 1927/9038

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
22

Drury
Avondale

Life
9 years

Dwelling of Mr. A. Afford, Avondale

9315

21 October 1927

Rev. F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	21 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Flanagan	Kathleen Mary Afford
	💍 1927/9038
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Drury	Avondale
Length of Residence	Life	9 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. A. Afford, Avondale
Folio	9315
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

1 November 1927

Brian Arthur Kania
Rita Millison Jones

Brian Arthur Rania
Rita Millicent Jones
💍 1927/9039

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
20

Papakura
Papakura

4 days
4 weeks

Dwelling of Mrs. L. White, Papakura

9316

George Jones, father

1 November 1927

Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	1 November 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Brian Arthur Kania	Rita Millison Jones
BDM Match (90%)	Brian Arthur Rania	Rita Millicent Jones
	💍 1927/9039
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	4 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mrs. L. White, Papakura
Folio	9316
Consent	George Jones, father
Date of Certificate	1 November 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

8 November 1927

Alexander Whittingham
Alice Aitkenhead

Alexander Whittingham
Alice Aitkenhead
💍 1927/9040

Widower
Spinster

Signal Erector
Domestic

34
26

Wiri
Wiri

3 months
3 months

St. Davids Church of England, Wiri

9317

8 November 1927

Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	8 November 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Whittingham	Alice Aitkenhead
	💍 1927/9040
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Signal Erector	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Wiri	Wiri
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Davids Church of England, Wiri
Folio	9317
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. B. Dobson, Church of England

19 November 1927

Leonard Mervyn Wallace
Mary Emily Stewart

Leonard Mervyn Wallace
Mary Emily Stewart
💍 1927/9041

Bachelor
Spinster

Company Manager
Dressmaker

22
24

Frankton Junction
Papakura

6 months
Life

Presbyterian Church, Papakura

9318

19 November 1927

Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	19 November 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Mervyn Wallace	Mary Emily Stewart
	💍 1927/9041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Company Manager	Dressmaker
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Papakura
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papakura
Folio	9318
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 November 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

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).