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 1505

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 30 June 1927 Registrar F. R. Moss

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

2 April 1927

Robert Mackie
Annie Margaret Robb

Robert Mackie
Annie Margaret Robb
💍 1927/4471

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
23

Ongaonga
Ruataniwha

27 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Waipawa

4634

2 April 1927

Rev. J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	2 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Mackie	Annie Margaret Robb
	💍 1927/4471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Ongaonga	Ruataniwha
Length of Residence	27 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waipawa
Folio	4634
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

5 April 1927

Percival Robert Harwood
Selina Muriel Watson

Percival Robert Harwood
Selina Muriel Watson
💍 1927/4472

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Clerk

24
27

Waipawa
Waipawa

27 years
15 years

St. Peters Church, Waipawa

4635

5 April 1927

Rev. M. B. Butterfield, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	5 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Robert Harwood	Selina Muriel Watson
	💍 1927/4472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Clerk
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	27 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Waipawa
Folio	4635
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Butterfield, Anglican

12 April 1927

John Gilbert Mudgway
Louisa Gordon

John Gilbert Mudgway
Louisa Gordon
💍 1927/4473

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic

34
40

Otane
Otane

18 months
4 years

Church of England, Pukehou

4636

14 April 1927

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	12 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gilbert Mudgway	Louisa Gordon
	💍 1927/4473
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic
Age	34	40
Dwelling Place	Otane	Otane
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukehou
Folio	4636
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

14 April 1927

Wilfred Harrison
Dina Jellie Ireland

Wilfred Harrison
Alina Nellie Ireland
💍 1927/4474

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

23
18

Waipawa
Waipawa

6 months
18 years

St. Peters Church, Waipawa

4637

Henry John Ireland (father), Edith Caroline Ireland (mother)

14 April 1927

Rev. M. B. Butterfield, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	14 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Harrison	Dina Jellie Ireland
BDM Match (93%)	Wilfred Harrison	Alina Nellie Ireland
	💍 1927/4474
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	6 months	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Waipawa
Folio	4637
Consent	Henry John Ireland (father), Edith Caroline Ireland (mother)
Date of Certificate	14 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Butterfield, Anglican

10 May 1927

Stanley Lawrence Stark Merrick
Margaret Rubina McAulay

Stanley Lawrence Stark Merrick
Margaret Rubina McAulay
💍 1927/4475

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
27

Norsewood
Waipawa

1 year
27 years

St. Stephens Church, Norsewood

4638

10 May 1927

Rev. J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	10 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Lawrence Stark Merrick	Margaret Rubina McAulay
	💍 1927/4475
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Norsewood	Waipawa
Length of Residence	1 year	27 years
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church, Norsewood
Folio	4638
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Robertson, 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).