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 1348

District of Waitara Quarter ending 30 June 1927 Registrar F. W. Barnard

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

8 June 1927

Thomas Karl Debney
Flora Christina McKenzie

Thomas Karl Debney
Flora Christina McKenzie
💍 1927/4455

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

25
24

Waitara
Waitara

1 week
10 years

Methodist Church at Waitara

4519

8 June 1927

Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

No	16
Date of Notice	8 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Karl Debney	Flora Christina McKenzie
	💍 1927/4455
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	1 week	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Waitara
Folio	4519
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

15 June 1927

Roy Wilfred Smith
Irene Ida Williamson

Roy Wilfred Smith
Irene Ida Williamson
💍 1927/4457

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy factory assistant
Domestic duties

19
20

Lepperton
Lepperton

3 years
14 years

The residence of John Peter Williamson, Richmond Road, Lepperton

4520

William Edward Smith, father; Ivy Letitia Smith, mother; John Peter Williamson, father; Ida Hannah Williamson, mother

15 June 1927

Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	15 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Wilfred Smith	Irene Ida Williamson
	💍 1927/4457
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy factory assistant	Domestic duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Lepperton	Lepperton
Length of Residence	3 years	14 years
Marriage Place	The residence of John Peter Williamson, Richmond Road, Lepperton
Folio	4520
Consent	William Edward Smith, father; Ivy Letitia Smith, mother; John Peter Williamson, father; Ida Hannah Williamson, mother
Date of Certificate	15 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

17 June 1927

Thomas Richard Waite
Nellie Mahaley Blacklock

Thomas Richard Waite
Nellie Mahaley Blacklock
💍 1927/4458

Divorced (decree absolute dated 23/2/26)
Divorced (decree absolute dated 24/5/27)

Farmer
Housekeeper

31
36

Uruti
Uruti

31 years
6 months

Registrar's office at Waitara

4521

17 June 1927

F. W. Barnard, Registrar

No	18
Date of Notice	17 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Richard Waite	Nellie Mahaley Blacklock
	💍 1927/4458
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute dated 23/2/26)	Divorced (decree absolute dated 24/5/27)
Profession	Farmer	Housekeeper
Age	31	36
Dwelling Place	Uruti	Uruti
Length of Residence	31 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's office at Waitara
Folio	4521
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1927
Officiating Minister	F. W. Barnard, Registrar

17 June 1927

Douglas Robert Botham
Elizabeth Annie Avondale Rackley

Douglas Robert Botham
Elizabeth Annie Avondale Rackley
💍 1927/4459

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

21
23

Motunui
Motunui

21 years
10 years

Church of England, Motunui

4522

17 June 1927

Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	17 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Robert Botham	Elizabeth Annie Avondale Rackley
	💍 1927/4459
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Motunui	Motunui
Length of Residence	21 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Motunui
Folio	4522
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gavin, Church of England

27 June 1927

William Soffe
Mary Hannah Smith

William Soffe
Mary Hannah Smith
💍 1927/4460

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Housemaid

32
19

Waitara
Waitara

25 years
10 years

Registrar's office, Waitara

4523

Mary Elizabeth Smith, mother, surviving parent

17 June 1927

F. W. Barnard, Registrar

No	20
Date of Notice	27 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Soffe	Mary Hannah Smith
	💍 1927/4460
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Housemaid
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Waitara	Waitara
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Waitara
Folio	4523
Consent	Mary Elizabeth Smith, mother, surviving parent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1927
Officiating Minister	F. W. Barnard, Registrar

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).