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 1050

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

6 June 1927

Leslie William Elsie Goodwin
Alma Johns

William Leslie Goodwin
Alma Johns
💍 1927/4279

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

24
18

Thames
Thames

16 years
18 years

Dwelling of Robert Johns, Sealey Street, Thames

4336

Robert Johns

6 June 1927

Rev Lambert, Baptist

No	23
Date of Notice	6 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie William Elsie Goodwin	Alma Johns
BDM Match (82%)	William Leslie Goodwin	Alma Johns
	💍 1927/4279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	16 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Robert Johns, Sealey Street, Thames
Folio	4336
Consent	Robert Johns
Date of Certificate	6 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Lambert, Baptist

10 June 1927

Dougal Scouel Berney
Stella Jane Gauley

Dougal Lionel Berney
Stella Jane Ganley
💍 1927/4260

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
25

Pipiroa
Pipiroa

16 years
6 years

Residence of William Gauley, Pipiroa

4337

10 June 1927

Rev Father Dequain, Roman Catholic

No	24
Date of Notice	10 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Dougal Scouel Berney	Stella Jane Gauley
BDM Match (90%)	Dougal Lionel Berney	Stella Jane Ganley
	💍 1927/4260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Pipiroa	Pipiroa
Length of Residence	16 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Gauley, Pipiroa
Folio	4337
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Dequain, Roman Catholic

17 June 1927

William McGregor
Alice Irene Flood

William McGregor
Alice Irene Flood
💍 1927/11

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic duties

27
21

Turua
Turua

7 days
7 days

Presbyterian Church, Turua

4338

17 June 1927

Rev Charteris, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	17 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McGregor	Alice Irene Flood
	💍 1927/11
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Turua
Folio	4338
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Charteris, Presbyterian

21 June 1927

Francis Dudley Dorman
Hilda Lily Greadaway

Francis Dudley Dorman
Hilda Lily Treadaway
💍 1927/10666

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic duties

19
21

Turua
Turua

5 days
13 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

4339

Edgar Dudley Dorman and Francis Dorman

21 June 1927

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	26
Date of Notice	21 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Dudley Dorman	Hilda Lily Greadaway
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Dudley Dorman	Hilda Lily Treadaway
	💍 1927/10666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic duties
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	5 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	4339
Consent	Edgar Dudley Dorman and Francis Dorman
Date of Certificate	21 June 1927
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

23 June 1927

Geo Eric Cotter
Phyllis Millington Hayward

Leo Eric Cotter
Phyllis Millington Hayward
💍 1927/4262

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory employee
Clerk

22
20

Ngatea
Ngatea

2 years
13 years

Methodist Church, Ngatea

4340

William Hayward and Dora Hayward

23 June 1927

Rev Averill, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	23 June 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geo Eric Cotter	Phyllis Millington Hayward
BDM Match (97%)	Leo Eric Cotter	Phyllis Millington Hayward
	💍 1927/4262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory employee	Clerk
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ngatea
Folio	4340
Consent	William Hayward and Dora Hayward
Date of Certificate	23 June 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Averill, Church of England

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).