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 1380

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1927 Registrar R. B. Brathwaite

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

14 February 1927

Henry Cyril Brawley
Nora Theresa Begley

Henry Cyril Crawley
Norah Theresa Begley
💍 1927/1999

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic duties

26
19

Hastings
Hastings

26
19

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

1807

Maurice Begley, Father

14 February 1927

Rev. Father O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	14 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Cyril Brawley	Nora Theresa Begley
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Cyril Crawley	Norah Theresa Begley
	💍 1927/1999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	26	19
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	1807
Consent	Maurice Begley, Father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Connell, Roman Catholic

14 February 1927

Leland Alfred Roman
Mary Annie Fisk

Leland Alfred Thomson
Mary Annie Fisk
💍 1927/2000

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber worker
Domestic

22
22

Hastings
Hastings

6 months
6 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1808

14 February 1927

Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	14 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leland Alfred Roman	Mary Annie Fisk
BDM Match (91%)	Leland Alfred Thomson	Mary Annie Fisk
	💍 1927/2000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber worker	Domestic
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1808
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

15 February 1927

Henry Morgan Simmonds
Frances Grace Rogerson

Henry Morgan Simmonds
Frances Grace Rogerson
💍 1927/2001

Bachelor
Spinster

Aerated water manufacturer
Book Keeper

23
25

Hastings
Palmerston North

3 months
22 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

1809

14 February 1927

A. W. Dent, Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	15 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Morgan Simmonds	Frances Grace Rogerson
	💍 1927/2001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Aerated water manufacturer	Book Keeper
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 months	22 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1809
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1927
Officiating Minister	A. W. Dent, Rev. J. G. Shaw, Presbyterian, Anglican

18 February 1927

John Wilson Asbridge
Elizabeth Sunderland

John Wilson Asbridge
Elizabeth Sunderland
💍 1927/1978

Bachelor
Spinster

Estate Agent
Pianoforte teacher

33
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

1810

18 February 1927

Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	18 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Wilson Asbridge	Elizabeth Sunderland
	💍 1927/1978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Estate Agent	Pianoforte teacher
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	1810
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

21 February 1927

Karl Ertel
Helena Beckerill

Karl Ertel
Helena Cockerill
💍 1927/1979

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

20
21

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

Methodist Manse, Hastings

1811

Bernard Betel, Father

21 February 1927

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	21 February 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Ertel	Helena Beckerill
BDM Match (94%)	Karl Ertel	Helena Cockerill
	💍 1927/1979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Hastings
Folio	1811
Consent	Bernard Betel, Father
Date of Certificate	21 February 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, 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).