Intentions to Marry, 1927 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840545, 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.

1927b contains pages 927-1804, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1053

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1927 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

4 July 1927

Harry Marshall McCollum
Laurel Jesmine Catherine Strong

Harry Marshall McCollum
Laurel Jesmine Catherine Strong
💍 1927/6790

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Domestic Duties

22
19

Ngatea
Thames

5 years
19 years

Residence of Mr. L.F.C. Alexander, Queen Street, Thames

6919

Eliza Ann Strong, Mother

4 July 1927

Rev. W.A. Burley, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	4 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Marshall McCollum	Laurel Jesmine Catherine Strong
	💍 1927/6790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. L.F.C. Alexander, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	6919
Consent	Eliza Ann Strong, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.A. Burley, Methodist

6 July 1927

Herbert Johnston
Ellen Mary Attwood

Herbert Johnston
Ellen Mary Attwood
💍 1927/6792

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
27

Thames
Thames

3 days
18 months

Methodist Church, Thames

6920

6 July 1927

Rev. W.A. Burley, Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	6 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Johnston	Ellen Mary Attwood
	💍 1927/6792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	6920
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. W.A. Burley, Methodist

15 July 1927

Herbert Cook
Doris Minnie Miller

Herbert Cook
Doris Minnie Miller
💍 1927/6793

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
19

Ngatea
Kopuarahi

7 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

6921

James Cameron & Eva Ellen Miller

15 July 1927

Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	15 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Cook	Doris Minnie Miller
	💍 1927/6793
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Kopuarahi
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	6921
Consent	James Cameron & Eva Ellen Miller
Date of Certificate	15 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Charteris, Presbyterian

16 July 1927

Walter Gilbert Warne
Laura Agnes Graham

Walter Gilbert Warne
Laura Agnes Graham
💍 1927/6794

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic Duties

28
23

Thames
Thames

27 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Thames

6922

16 July 1927

Rev. Pickering, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	16 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Gilbert Warne	Laura Agnes Graham
	💍 1927/6794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	27 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Thames
Folio	6922
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Pickering, Presbyterian

18 July 1927

William Joseph Norman
Grace Eileen Virtue
formerly McLeod Scrimgeour

William Joseph Norman McLeod Scrimgeour
Grace Eileen Virtue
💍 1927/6795

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 25-5-26

Journalist
Domestic Duties

34
36

Thames
Thames

2 years
7 months

St. Francis Church, Thames

6923

18 July 1927

Rev. F.J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	18 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Norman	Grace Eileen Virtue formerly McLeod Scrimgeour
BDM Match (77%)	William Joseph Norman McLeod Scrimgeour	Grace Eileen Virtue
	💍 1927/6795
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 25-5-26
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church, Thames
Folio	6923
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. F.J. Dignan, 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).