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 1054

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 September 1927 Registrar H.R. Bush

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

20 July 1927

James Hooper Godkin
Eileen Ruby Williams

James Hooper Godkin
Eileen Ruby Williams
💍 1927/6796

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharemilker
Domestic Duties

27
20

Waitakaruru
Hopai

20 years
5 years

Office of registrar of marriages Thames

6924

Morgan Williams & Eileen Ruby Williams, Parents

20 July 1927

H.R. Bush, Registrar

No	34
Date of Notice	20 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hooper Godkin	Eileen Ruby Williams
	💍 1927/6796
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharemilker	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Waitakaruru	Hopai
Length of Residence	20 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of registrar of marriages Thames
Folio	6924
Consent	Morgan Williams & Eileen Ruby Williams, Parents
Date of Certificate	20 July 1927
Officiating Minister	H.R. Bush, Registrar

21 July 1927

Edgar Adolphus Samuel Hofmann
Ethel Inez Hall

Edgar Adolphus Samuel Hofmann
Ethel Inez Hall
💍 1927/6756

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
22

Matatoki
Matatoki

4 months
22 years

St. Georges Anglican Church Thames

6926

21 July 1927

Rev. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	21 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Adolphus Samuel Hofmann	Ethel Inez Hall
	💍 1927/6756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Matatoki
Length of Residence	4 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Anglican Church Thames
Folio	6926
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robertshawe, Church of England

26 July 1927

Thomas Walter Reynolds
Louisa Mavis Newman

Thomas Walter Reynolds
Louisa Mavis Newman
💍 1927/6797

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

24
23

Thames
Thames

18 months
23 years

Methodist Church Thames

6925

26 July 1927

W.A. Burley, Methodist

No	36
Date of Notice	26 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Reynolds	Louisa Mavis Newman
	💍 1927/6797
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thames
Folio	6925
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1927
Officiating Minister	W.A. Burley, Methodist

27 July 1927

James Hill
Elizabeth Alma Brownlee

James Hill
Elizabeth Alma Brownlee
💍 1927/6767

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic Duties

26
32

Thames
Thames

2 years
32 years

St. Georges Church Thames

6927

27 July 1927

Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

No	37
Date of Notice	27 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hill	Elizabeth Alma Brownlee
	💍 1927/6767
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges Church Thames
Folio	6927
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. Robertshawe, Church of England

28 July 1927

John Boyle
Helen Kathleen Hourigan

John Boyle
Helen Kathleen Hourigan
💍 1927/6773

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

21
19

Thames
Thames

21 years
2 years

St. Francis Church Thames

6928

Elizabeth Hourigan, Daniel Hourigan

28 July 1927

Rev. F.J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	28 July 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Boyle	Helen Kathleen Hourigan
	💍 1927/6773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	21 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Francis Church Thames
Folio	6928
Consent	Elizabeth Hourigan, Daniel Hourigan
Date of Certificate	28 July 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. F.J. Dignan, Roman Catholic

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).