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 795

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 31 March 1927 Registrar [illegible]

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

24 January 1927

Martin Neale Shipp
Ruth Gwendoline Victoria Webb

Martin Neale Shipp
Ruth Gwendoline Victoria Webb
💍 1927/1774

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway fireman
Domestic duties

23
24

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

1 day
4 years

Baptist Church, Morrinsville

1559

24 January 1927

Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	24 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Neale Shipp	Ruth Gwendoline Victoria Webb
	💍 1927/1774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway fireman	Domestic duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	1 day	4 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Morrinsville
Folio	1559
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

8 February 1927

Kenneth Oliver Campbell
Mary Pitcairn Campbell

Kenneth Oliver Campbell
Mary Pitcairn Campbell
💍 1927/1775

Widower (15/2/24)
Spinster

Buttermaker
Domestic Duties

44
39

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

3 months
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville

1560

8 February 1927

Rev. J. Starnes, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	8 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Oliver Campbell	Mary Pitcairn Campbell
	💍 1927/1775
Condition	Widower (15/2/24)	Spinster
Profession	Buttermaker	Domestic Duties
Age	44	39
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville
Folio	1560
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Starnes, Presbyterian

11 February 1927

Henry George Francis Blakett
Hazel Ounsworth

Henry George Francis Blackett
Hazel Ounsworth
💍 1927/1776

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic

21
18

Kiwitahi
Kiwitahi

6 months
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville

1561

Alice Ounsworth, mother

11 February 1927

Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	11 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry George Francis Blakett	Hazel Ounsworth
BDM Match (98%)	Henry George Francis Blackett	Hazel Ounsworth
	💍 1927/1776
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Kiwitahi
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville
Folio	1561
Consent	Alice Ounsworth, mother
Date of Certificate	11 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

22 February 1927

George Mark Seales
Ellen Diment Snell

George Mark Seales
Ellen Diment Snell
💍 1927/1756

Bachelor
Widow (9/12/16)

Farmer
Nurse

65
62

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

23 years
30 years

Ellen Diment Snell's residence, Strathmore Street, Morrinsville

1562

22 February 1927

Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	22 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mark Seales	Ellen Diment Snell
	💍 1927/1756
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (9/12/16)
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	65	62
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	23 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Ellen Diment Snell's residence, Strathmore Street, Morrinsville
Folio	1562
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

15 March 1927

John Gordon Kingsley Rutherford
Yolande Constance Dillon Thompson

John Gordon Kingsley Rutherfurd
Yolande Constance Dillon Thompson
💍 1927/1757

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

26
21

Wairamarama
Tauhei

11 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Morrinsville

1563

15 March 1927

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	15 March 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Kingsley Rutherford	Yolande Constance Dillon Thompson
BDM Match (98%)	John Gordon Kingsley Rutherfurd	Yolande Constance Dillon Thompson
	💍 1927/1757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Wairamarama	Tauhei
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Morrinsville
Folio	1563
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

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).