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 917

District of Putaruru Quarter ending 31 December 1927 Registrar J. H. Webb

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

11 October 1927

Ernest Albert Cooper
Winifred Alice Kopden

Ernest Albert Cooper
Winifred Alice Aspden
💍 1927/10805

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Drapers assistant

29
18

Mercer
Putaruru

3 days
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Tirau

10493

E. Kopden, mother

11 October 1927

Rev. W. T. Pralyer, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	11 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Cooper	Winifred Alice Kopden
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Albert Cooper	Winifred Alice Aspden
	💍 1927/10805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Drapers assistant
Age	29	18
Dwelling Place	Mercer	Putaruru
Length of Residence	3 days	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tirau
Folio	10493
Consent	E. Kopden, mother
Date of Certificate	11 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. T. Pralyer, Presbyterian

15 October 1927

James Aylward
Melba Adelaide Hill

James Sylward
Melba Adelaide Hill
💍 1927/8002

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
18

Putaruru
Putaruru

14 months
8 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Putaruru

9478

Frederick & Ellen Hill (father and Emily Hill (mother))

15 October 1927

Registrar of Marriages, Putaruru

No	6
Date of Notice	15 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Aylward	Melba Adelaide Hill
BDM Match (96%)	James Sylward	Melba Adelaide Hill
	💍 1927/8002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Putaruru	Putaruru
Length of Residence	14 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Putaruru
Folio	9478
Consent	Frederick & Ellen Hill (father and Emily Hill (mother))
Date of Certificate	15 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Putaruru

5 December 1927

John Percy Steffert
Ethel May Barnett

John Percy Steffert
Ethel May Barnett
💍 1927/8008

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
17

Tokoroa
Tokoroa

6 months
5 months

Roman Catholic Church, Putaruru

9479

Lilly Carmichael (mother)

5 December 1927

Rev. M. Alink, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	5 December 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Percy Steffert	Ethel May Barnett
	💍 1927/8008
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Tokoroa	Tokoroa
Length of Residence	6 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Putaruru
Folio	9479
Consent	Lilly Carmichael (mother)
Date of Certificate	5 December 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Alink, Roman Catholic

5 December 1927

Frederick William Hills
Margaret Clay Benton

Frederick William Hills
Margaret May Benton
💍 1927/8009

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic duties

28
20

Putaruru
Putaruru

10 years
25 years

Methodist Church, Putaruru

9480

William Benton (father), Trila Benton (mother)

5 December 1927

Rev. Harold Ashworth, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	5 December 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Hills	Margaret Clay Benton
BDM Match (95%)	Frederick William Hills	Margaret May Benton
	💍 1927/8009
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Putaruru	Putaruru
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Putaruru
Folio	9480
Consent	William Benton (father), Trila Benton (mother)
Date of Certificate	5 December 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harold Ashworth, Methodist

12 December 1927

Alexander McQuillan
Frances Valentine Curran

Alexander McQuillan
Frances Valentine Curran
💍 1927/8010

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic duties

31
22

Tirau
Tirau

2 years
4 months

Roman Catholic Church, Putaruru

9481

12 December 1927

Rev. M. Alink, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	12 December 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McQuillan	Frances Valentine Curran
	💍 1927/8010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Tirau	Tirau
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Putaruru
Folio	9481
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Alink, Roman Catholic

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).