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 1057

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 December 1927 Registrar H. B. 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 October 1927

Raymond Coster
Frances Ellen May Cameron

Raymond Coster
Frances Ellen May Cameron
💍 1927/9188

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

21
18

Thames
Thames

21 years
18 years

Residence of Rev W. A. Burley, Queen Street, Thames

9541

Fanny Elizabeth May Cameron, mother

4 October 1927

Rev W. A. Burley, Methodist

No	46
Date of Notice	4 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Coster	Frances Ellen May Cameron
	💍 1927/9188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev W. A. Burley, Queen Street, Thames
Folio	9541
Consent	Fanny Elizabeth May Cameron, mother
Date of Certificate	4 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Burley, Methodist

10 October 1927

John Hugh McKenzie
Cecilia Patricia Thornton

John Hugh McKenzie
Cecilia Patricia Thornton
💍 1927/9189

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
24

Thames
Thames

1 week
1 week

Registrar's Office, Thames

9542

10 October 1927

H. B. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	47
Date of Notice	10 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hugh McKenzie	Cecilia Patricia Thornton
	💍 1927/9189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Thames
Folio	9542
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1927
Officiating Minister	H. B. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

10 October 1927

John Hamilton Blakeman
Mary Elizabeth Geary

John Hamilton Blakeman
Mary Elizabeth Geary
💍 1927/9190

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine driver
Domestic duties

34
24

Thames
Thames

5 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Thames

9543

10 October 1927

Rev W. A. Burley, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	10 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Hamilton Blakeman	Mary Elizabeth Geary
	💍 1927/9190
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine driver	Domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	9543
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev W. A. Burley, Methodist

10 October 1927

Owen Grevile McGuinn
Mercia Ageagh Laurence

Owen Trevlin McGuinn
Mercia A Leagh Lawrence
💍 1927/9191

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
19

Thames
Thames

7 days
7 days

St Frances Church, Thames

9544

William Edward Laurence and Florence Laurence, mother/father

10 October 1927

Rev Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	10 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Grevile McGuinn	Mercia Ageagh Laurence
BDM Match (84%)	Owen Trevlin McGuinn	Mercia A Leagh Lawrence
	💍 1927/9191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Frances Church, Thames
Folio	9544
Consent	William Edward Laurence and Florence Laurence, mother/father
Date of Certificate	10 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Dignan, Roman Catholic

27 October 1927

William George Withers Glessing
Jessie Bliton

William George Withers Glessing
Jessie Chilton
💍 1927/9192

Bachelor
Spinster

Law clerk
Clerk

27
23

Thames
Thames

24 years
15 years

St John Church, Thames

9545

27 October 1927

Rev Noel J. E. Roberts, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	27 October 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Withers Glessing	Jessie Bliton
BDM Match (89%)	William George Withers Glessing	Jessie Chilton
	💍 1927/9192
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law clerk	Clerk
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	24 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St John Church, Thames
Folio	9545
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Noel J. E. Roberts, Church of England

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).