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 1734

District of Otaki Quarter ending 30 June 1927 Registrar J. Pearce

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

29 April 1927

John Gordon Baron
Maisie Ada Bole

John Gordon Baron
Mavis Ada Cole
💍 1927/4773

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic duties

22
20

Otaki
Wellington

1 year
1 week

Registrar's Office, Wellington

4775

Ada Sarah Denton, mother of bride

29 April 1927

Registrar, Wellington

No	15
Date of Notice	29 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Baron	Maisie Ada Bole
BDM Match (87%)	John Gordon Baron	Mavis Ada Cole
	💍 1927/4773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Wellington
Length of Residence	1 year	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Wellington
Folio	4775
Consent	Ada Sarah Denton, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	29 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Wellington

16 May 1927

Francis Russell Arnold Kershaw
Florence Elizabeth Bullman

Francis Russell Arnold Kershaw
Florance Elizabeth Bulliman
💍 1927/10682

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm-hand
Domestic duties

25
22

Waikanae
Waikanae

2 months
6 years

Methodist Church, Waikanae

4776

16 May 1927

Rev. Strand, Methodist

No	16
Date of Notice	16 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Russell Arnold Kershaw	Florence Elizabeth Bullman
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Russell Arnold Kershaw	Florance Elizabeth Bulliman
	💍 1927/10682
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm-hand	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Waikanae	Waikanae
Length of Residence	2 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Waikanae
Folio	4776
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Strand, Methodist

7 June 1927

John Dressler
Ivy Symonds

John Trussler
Ivy Symonds
💍 1927/4783

Divorced (16 May 1927, Decree Absolute)
Spinster

Benchman
Domestic duties

59
29

Otaki
Otaki

3 years
3 years

Registrar's Office, Otaki

4777

7 June 1927

Registrar, Otaki

No	17
Date of Notice	7 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dressler	Ivy Symonds
BDM Match (92%)	John Trussler	Ivy Symonds
	💍 1927/4783
Condition	Divorced (16 May 1927, Decree Absolute)	Spinster
Profession	Benchman	Domestic duties
Age	59	29
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Otaki
Folio	4777
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Otaki

13 June 1927

Hadfield Knocks
Ranginhihia Booles

Heamawara Knocks
Rangiwhiwhia Cootes
💍 1927/9649

Haiawira Knocks
Rangi Whiwhia Cootes
💍 1927/7755

Widower (21 July 1921)
Spinster

Lorry driver
Domestic duties

32
24

Otaki
Otaki

32 years
24 years

Native Church, Otaki

13 June 1927

Rev. Te Koaitua, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	13 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hadfield Knocks	Ranginhihia Booles
BDM Match (68%)	Heamawara Knocks	Rangiwhiwhia Cootes
	💍 1927/9649
BDM Match (68%)	Haiawira Knocks	Rangi Whiwhia Cootes
	💍 1927/7755
Condition	Widower (21 July 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Lorry driver	Domestic duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	32 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Native Church, Otaki
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Te Koaitua, Anglican

13 June 1927

Reginald George Francis Vine
Margaret Emma Harkis

Reginald George Francis Vine
Margaret Emma Harkis
💍 1927/10683

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Shop assistant

24
26

Wellington
Otaki

1 day
5 months

Methodist Church, Otaki

4778

13 June 1927

Rev. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	13 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald George Francis Vine	Margaret Emma Harkis
	💍 1927/10683
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Shop assistant
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Otaki
Length of Residence	1 day	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Otaki
Folio	4778
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Liddell, 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).