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 1388

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1927 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

Reginald Rolt White
Agnes Dorothy Hawley

Reginald Rolt White
Agnes Dorothy Hawley
💍 1927/4574

Widower (28 May 1923)
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

39
30

Kaiwaka
Hastings

10 years
12 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4551

2 April 1927

Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

No	52
Date of Notice	2 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Rolt White	Agnes Dorothy Hawley
	💍 1927/4574
Condition	Widower (28 May 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	39	30
Dwelling Place	Kaiwaka	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4551
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

22 April 1927

John Thomas Walker
Mabel Bertha Emily Lobbat

John Thomas Walker
Mabel Bertha Emily McNab
💍 1927/4585

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry Driver
Domestic duties

28
24

Maraekakaho
Twyford

28 years
24 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

4552

22 April 1927

Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	22 April 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Thomas Walker	Mabel Bertha Emily Lobbat
BDM Match (90%)	John Thomas Walker	Mabel Bertha Emily McNab
	💍 1927/4585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry Driver	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Maraekakaho	Twyford
Length of Residence	28 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	4552
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

2 May 1927

Victor Roberts Thompson
Una Morrison

Victor Roberts Thompson
Una Morrison
💍 1927/4592

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop assistant

26
18

Hastings
Hastings

26 years
18 years

Presbyterian Manse, Hastings

4553

James & Agnes Morrison, parents

2 May 1927

Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	2 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Roberts Thompson	Una Morrison
	💍 1927/4592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop assistant
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	26 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hastings
Folio	4553
Consent	James & Agnes Morrison, parents
Date of Certificate	2 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

5 May 1927

Thomas Hannah
Ruby Florence Stanley

Thomas Hannan
Ruby Florence Shanley
💍 1927/4593

Bachelor
Widow (7 November 1919)

Farmer
Domestic

42
31

Hastings
Hastings

1 year
18 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

4554

5 May 1927

Robert Braithwaite, Registrar

No	55
Date of Notice	5 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hannah	Ruby Florence Stanley
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Hannan	Ruby Florence Shanley
	💍 1927/4593
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (7 November 1919)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	42	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 year	18 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	4554
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Robert Braithwaite, Registrar

9 May 1927

Richard Alexander Remon
Mary Alexandra Keesick

Richard Alexander Nimon
Mary Alexandra McKeesick
💍 1927/4594

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

23
24

Havelock North
Hastings

23 years
24 years

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

4555

9 May 1927

Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	9 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Alexander Remon	Mary Alexandra Keesick
BDM Match (92%)	Richard Alexander Nimon	Mary Alexandra McKeesick
	💍 1927/4594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	4555
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).