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 1048

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1927 Registrar H. S. 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

2 May 1927

William John O'Hara
Sheila May Suedgar

William John OHara
Leila May Snelgar
💍 1927/4259

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

19
16

Wharepoa
Wharepoa

19 years
16 years

Roman Catholic Church, Thames

4326

Albert George Suedgar and Luda May Suedgar

17 May 1927

Rev Father Deguara, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	2 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John O'Hara	Sheila May Suedgar
BDM Match (86%)	William John OHara	Leila May Snelgar
	💍 1927/4259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Wharepoa	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	19 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Thames
Folio	4326
Consent	Albert George Suedgar and Luda May Suedgar
Date of Certificate	17 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Deguara, Roman Catholic

5 May 1927

Thomas Mitchell
Doris Vivienne McGregor

Thomas Mitchell
Doris Vivienne McGregor
💍 1927/10664

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 30/6/1926)

Driver
Domestic duties

26
30

Ngatea
Ngatea

4 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames

4327

5 May 1927

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

No	14
Date of Notice	5 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Mitchell	Doris Vivienne McGregor
	💍 1927/10664
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 30/6/1926)
Profession	Driver	Domestic duties
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	4327
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1927
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages

6 May 1927

Bertram James Bell
Myrtle Heath Taylor

Bertram James Bell
Myrtle Heath Taylor
💍 1927/4270

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman
Clerk

29
20

Thames
Thames

2 years
20 years

Baptist Church, Willoughby Street, Thames

4328

Chas. K. Taylor and Emma Jane Taylor

6 May 1927

Rev Lambert, Baptist

No	15
Date of Notice	6 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram James Bell	Myrtle Heath Taylor
	💍 1927/4270
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman	Clerk
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Willoughby Street, Thames
Folio	4328
Consent	Chas. K. Taylor and Emma Jane Taylor
Date of Certificate	6 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Lambert, Baptist

6 May 1927

Alexander Sem Hogg
Kathleen Neville Miller

Alexander Sim Hogg
Kathleen Neville Miller
💍 1927/4273

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Trained nurse

28
27

Invercargill
Thames

6 years

Dwelling of J. G. Hayne, Parawai

4329

6 May 1927

Rev J. D. McFarlane, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	6 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Sem Hogg	Kathleen Neville Miller
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander Sim Hogg	Kathleen Neville Miller
	💍 1927/4273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Trained nurse
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Thames
Length of Residence		6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of J. G. Hayne, Parawai
Folio	4329
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev J. D. McFarlane, Presbyterian

9 May 1927

Eric James Smith
Lillian Ruth Wallace

Eric James Smith
Lilian Ruth Wallace
💍 1927/4274

Bachelor
Spinster

Fish cleaner
Domestic duties

21
23

Thames
Thames

8 years
5 years

Residence of A. B. Smith, Richmond Street, Thames

4330

9 May 1927

Rev Burley, Methodist

No	17
Date of Notice	9 May 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric James Smith	Lillian Ruth Wallace
BDM Match (98%)	Eric James Smith	Lilian Ruth Wallace
	💍 1927/4274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fish cleaner	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. B. Smith, Richmond Street, Thames
Folio	4330
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev Burley, 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).