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 1745

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 September 1927 Registrar J. H. Dashwood

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

21 July 1927

Hughie McIlroy
Mabel Faby Kilmister

Hughie McIlroy
Mabel Ruby Kilmister
💍 1927/7144

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic

22
19

Konini
Konini

4 days
9 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

7281

Florence May Kilmister, mother; Ernest Henry Kilmister, father

31 July 1927

J. H. Dashwood, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	21 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hughie McIlroy	Mabel Faby Kilmister
BDM Match (95%)	Hughie McIlroy	Mabel Ruby Kilmister
	💍 1927/7144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	4 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	7281
Consent	Florence May Kilmister, mother; Ernest Henry Kilmister, father
Date of Certificate	31 July 1927
Officiating Minister	J. H. Dashwood, Registrar

28 July 1927

Charles Douglas
May Liche

Charles Douglas
May Fisher
💍 1927/10266

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
24

Pori
Makuri

4 years
1 1/2 years

Makuri Hall, Makuri

7942

28 July 1927

Rev. E. W. Bergin, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	28 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Douglas	May Liche
BDM Match (85%)	Charles Douglas	May Fisher
	💍 1927/10266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	24
Dwelling Place	Pori	Makuri
Length of Residence	4 years	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Makuri Hall, Makuri
Folio	7942
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Bergin, Church of England

1 August 1927

William John Turner
Lora Georgia Benton

William John Turner
Cora Georgina Benton
💍 1927/7145

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic

35
28

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

1 year
20 years

Church of England, Pahiatua

7282

1 August 1927

Rev. S. W. Senwick, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	1 August 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Turner	Lora Georgia Benton
BDM Match (95%)	William John Turner	Cora Georgina Benton
	💍 1927/7145
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	35	28
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	7282
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Senwick, Church of England

1 September 1927

Arthur Raymond McKenzie
Mabel Muriel Hirst

Arthur Raymond McKenzie
Mabel Muriel Hirst
💍 1927/7146

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

24
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
7 days

Church of England, Pahiatua

7283

Thomas Hirst, father; Annie Gertrude Hirst, mother

1 September 1927

Rev. S. W. Senwick, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	1 September 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Raymond McKenzie	Mabel Muriel Hirst
	💍 1927/7146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	7283
Consent	Thomas Hirst, father; Annie Gertrude Hirst, mother
Date of Certificate	1 September 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Senwick, Church of England

7 September 1927

Stanley James Judd
Gladys Alfreida Biggar

Stanley James Judd
Gladys Alfreida Biggar
💍 1927/7147

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Clerk

24
21

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

5 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua

7284

7 September 1927

Rev. T. Halliday, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	7 September 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley James Judd	Gladys Alfreida Biggar
	💍 1927/7147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Clerk
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pahiatua
Folio	7284
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Halliday, 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).