Intentions to Marry, 1922 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840505, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922b contains pages 423-876, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

[NOTE: roughly one-third of the images from this register were too out of focus to use, this will hopefully be rectified soon]

Page 867

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar J. Ramsay

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

5 October 1922

Joseph James Hoe
Vera Wright

Joseph James Hoe
Vera Wright
💍 1922/7577

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
19

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

2 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe

8512

William James Wright, father

5 October 1922

Rev. Arthur H. Coates, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	5 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph James Hoe	Vera Wright
	💍 1922/7577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe
Folio	8512
Consent	William James Wright, father
Date of Certificate	5 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Arthur H. Coates, Presbyterian

10 November 1922

Richard John Sizemore
Elsie Wilhelmina Jeffares

Richard John Sizemore
Elsie Wilhelmina Jeffares
💍 1922/7578

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Clerk

36
22

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

2 years
20 years

At the residence of Mr. Benjamin Jeffares, West Street, Pukekohe

8513

10 November 1922

Rev. J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	10 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard John Sizemore	Elsie Wilhelmina Jeffares
	💍 1922/7578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Clerk
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Mr. Benjamin Jeffares, West Street, Pukekohe
Folio	8513
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

18 December 1922

Lewis Frederick Schwass
Mary Lovett

Lewis Frederick Schwass
Mary Lovett
💍 1922/7579

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

23
23

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

6 months
4 years

At the residence of Abel Lovett, Hayes Road, Pukekohe

8514

18 December 1922

Rev. S. Guion, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	18 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Frederick Schwass	Mary Lovett
	💍 1922/7579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	6 months	4 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of Abel Lovett, Hayes Road, Pukekohe
Folio	8514
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Guion, Presbyterian

21 December 1922

Cyril Norman McMahon
Sarah Jane Costello

Cyril Norman McMahon
Sarah Jane Costello
💍 1922/7580

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage Proprietor
Domestic duties

24
23

Pukekohe
Patumahoe

1 day
10 days

Registrar's Office, Pukekohe

8515

21 December 1922

J. Ramsay, Registrar of marriages

No	42
Date of Notice	21 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Norman McMahon	Sarah Jane Costello
	💍 1922/7580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage Proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Patumahoe
Length of Residence	1 day	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pukekohe
Folio	8515
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1922
Officiating Minister	J. Ramsay, Registrar of marriages

27 December 1922

Harved Sydney Balthorpe Misdon
Sarah Medowell

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic duties

25
36

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

6 days
1 year

St. James Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe

8516

27 December 1922

Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	27 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harved Sydney Balthorpe Misdon	Sarah Medowell
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic duties
Age	25	36
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	6 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St. James Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe
Folio	8516
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 December 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Nixon, 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).