Intentions to Marry, 1921 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840497, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1921b contains pages 433-884, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 873

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar J. H. Waters

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 August 1921

Leslie Richard Howe
Alma Olive Kathleen Donahoe

Leslie Richard Howe
Alma Olive Kathleen Donahoe
💍 1921/3263

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Garage Proprietor
Domestic duties

29
28

Pukekohe
Ramarama

29 years
28 years

Church of England Pukekohe

7055

8 August 1921

Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Richard Howe	Alma Olive Kathleen Donahoe
	💍 1921/3263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Garage Proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Ramarama
Length of Residence	29 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Pukekohe
Folio	7055
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

15 August 1921

Ernest Oswald Stephenson Twidle
Lucy May McWatt

Ernest Oswald Stephenson Twidle
Lucy May McWatt
💍 1921/3264

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Laborer
Domestic duties

25
20

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

25 years
2 years

St James Church Pukekohe

7056

Robert McWatt, Father

15 August 1921

Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

No	42
Date of Notice	15 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Oswald Stephenson Twidle	Lucy May McWatt
	💍 1921/3264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Laborer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St James Church Pukekohe
Folio	7056
Consent	Robert McWatt, Father
Date of Certificate	15 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

17 August 1921

Robert MacKenzie Broughton
Emma Jane Kettlewell

Robert MacKenzie Broughton
Emma Jane Kettlewell
💍 1921/3265

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

50
45

Bombay
Bombay

13 years
16 years

Registrars Office Pukekohe

7057

17 August 1921

J. H. Waters, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	17 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert MacKenzie Broughton	Emma Jane Kettlewell
	💍 1921/3265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	50	45
Dwelling Place	Bombay	Bombay
Length of Residence	13 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Pukekohe
Folio	7057
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 August 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Waters, Registrar

5 September 1921

Arthur Geoffrey Clayton Drabble
Laura Ambrosia Harker

Arthur Geoffrey Clayton Drabble
Laura Ambrosia Harker
💍 1921/3266

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

22
20

Tuakau
Tuakau

3 days
7 years

The residence of Mr A Harker Tuakau

7058

Ambrose Harker, Father

5 September 1921

Rev. W. Nicholl, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	5 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Geoffrey Clayton Drabble	Laura Ambrosia Harker
	💍 1921/3266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Tuakau	Tuakau
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr A Harker Tuakau
Folio	7058
Consent	Ambrose Harker, Father
Date of Certificate	5 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Nicholl, Presbyterian

9 September 1921

David Annandale
Julia Ann Eda Booker

David Annandale
Julia Ann Eda Booker
💍 1921/3243

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

28
20

Tuakau
Tuakau

2 years
20 years

The residence of Mr J. M. Booker Tuakau

7059

John Murray Booker, Father

9 September 1921

Rev. W. Nicholl, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	9 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Annandale	Julia Ann Eda Booker
	💍 1921/3243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Tuakau	Tuakau
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr J. M. Booker Tuakau
Folio	7059
Consent	John Murray Booker, Father
Date of Certificate	9 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Nicholl, Presbyterian

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).