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 1741

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1927 Registrar A. W. Ashworth

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 January 1927

Richard John Beange
Margaret Amy Shilton

Richard John Geange
Margaret Amy Skilton
💍 1927/10635

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic

24
21

Pahiatua
Mangatamoka

17 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua

1983

11 January 1927

Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	11 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Beange	Margaret Amy Shilton
BDM Match (95%)	Richard John Geange	Margaret Amy Skilton
	💍 1927/10635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Mangatamoka
Length of Residence	17 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1983
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

12 January 1927

William Francis Hercock
Ada Rose Clement

William Francis Hercock
Ada Rose Clement
💍 1927/2147

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Konini
Pahiatua

10 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

1984

Ernest Arthur Clement, father; Annie Clement, mother

12 January 1927

F. Burrell, Deputy Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	12 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Francis Hercock	Ada Rose Clement
	💍 1927/2147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Konini	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	1984
Consent	Ernest Arthur Clement, father; Annie Clement, mother
Date of Certificate	12 January 1927
Officiating Minister	F. Burrell, Deputy Registrar

19 January 1927

Sydney Spencer Francis Breaves
Myrtle Rose O'Hagan

Sydney Spencer Francis Greares
Myrtle Rose O'Hagan
💍 1927/10636

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

20
20

Mangatamoka
Kumeroa

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

1985

Sarah Ann Breaves, mother; John O'Hagan, father; Florence O'Hagan, mother

19 January 1927

F. Burrell, Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Spencer Francis Breaves	Myrtle Rose O'Hagan
BDM Match (97%)	Sydney Spencer Francis Greares	Myrtle Rose O'Hagan
	💍 1927/10636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Mangatamoka	Kumeroa
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	1985
Consent	Sarah Ann Breaves, mother; John O'Hagan, father; Florence O'Hagan, mother
Date of Certificate	19 January 1927
Officiating Minister	F. Burrell, Deputy Registrar

24 January 1927

Owen Oliver Old
Margaret Jessie Marshall

Owen Oliver Old
Margaret Jessie Marshall
💍 1927/2148

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
28

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
2 months

Church of England, Pahiatua

1986

24 January 1927

Rev. S. W. Fenwick, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	24 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Owen Oliver Old	Margaret Jessie Marshall
	💍 1927/2148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	1986
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Fenwick, Church of England

25 January 1927

George Duncan Sumner
Caroline Hazel Pritchard

George Duncan Sunnex
Caroline Hazel Pritchard
💍 1927/2127

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic

25
19

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

14 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Pahiatua

1987

Caroline Sarah John Pritchard, mother

25 January 1927

Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Duncan Sumner	Caroline Hazel Pritchard
BDM Match (95%)	George Duncan Sunnex	Caroline Hazel Pritchard
	💍 1927/2127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pahiatua
Folio	1987
Consent	Caroline Sarah John Pritchard, mother
Date of Certificate	25 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

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).