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 486

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1922 Registrar G. F. Hill

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

26 May 1922

Francis Leonard McMahon
Christina Sutherland Williamson

Francis Leonard McMahon
Christina Sutherland Williamson
💍 1922/2701

Widower (decree absolute dated 24th August 1921)
Spinster

Bartender
Dressmaker

32
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

12 years
5 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3637

26 May 1922

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	82
Date of Notice	26 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Leonard McMahon	Christina Sutherland Williamson
	💍 1922/2701
Condition	Widower (decree absolute dated 24th August 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Bartender	Dressmaker
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3637
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

26 May 1922

Cecil Wilfred Horrocks Heighton
Winifred Alma Evelyn Powell

Cecil Wilfred Horrocks Heighton
Winnifred Alma Evelyn Powell
💍 1922/2702

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
16

Te Karaka
Te Karaka

14 years
life

St John's Church of England, Te Karaka

3638

Frederick John Powell (father)

26 May 1922

Rev. Herbert Collier, Anglican, Te Karaka

No	83
Date of Notice	26 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Wilfred Horrocks Heighton	Winifred Alma Evelyn Powell
BDM Match (98%)	Cecil Wilfred Horrocks Heighton	Winnifred Alma Evelyn Powell
	💍 1922/2702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	16
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	14 years	life
Marriage Place	St John's Church of England, Te Karaka
Folio	3638
Consent	Frederick John Powell (father)
Date of Certificate	26 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Herbert Collier, Anglican, Te Karaka

27 May 1922

Frank Norman Hunken
Agnes Snowden Robertson Grant

Frank Norman Lunken
Agnes Howden Robertson Grant
💍 1922/2703

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Marker
Waitress

29
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 years
11 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

3639

27 May 1922

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	84
Date of Notice	27 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Norman Hunken	Agnes Snowden Robertson Grant
BDM Match (94%)	Frank Norman Lunken	Agnes Howden Robertson Grant
	💍 1922/2703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Marker	Waitress
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	3639
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

29 May 1922

Ralph Osmund Bull
Ethel Frances Ellis

Ralph Osmund Bull
Ethel Frances Ellis
💍 1922/2704

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Pianoforte Teacher

23
20

Gisborne
Patutahi, Poverty Bay

life
18 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

3640

Henry John Ellis (father)

29 May 1922

Rev. Gerald Vey Morse, Anglican, Gisborne

No	85
Date of Notice	29 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Osmund Bull	Ethel Frances Ellis
	💍 1922/2704
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Pianoforte Teacher
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Patutahi, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	life	18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	3640
Consent	Henry John Ellis (father)
Date of Certificate	29 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Gerald Vey Morse, Anglican, Gisborne

31 May 1922

Harry Hean Hansen
Margaret Annie Currie

Harry Lean Hansen
Margaret Annie Currie
💍 1922/2705

Harry Reuben Taylor
Margaret Adams Currie
💍 1922/9527

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Governess

22
23

Mangapapa, Gisborne
Mangapapa, Gisborne

life
life

Edward Murphy Memorial Home, Gisborne

3641

31 May 1922

Rev. Thomas Kane, Roman Catholic, Gisborne

No	86
Date of Notice	31 May 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Hean Hansen	Margaret Annie Currie
BDM Match (97%)	Harry Lean Hansen	Margaret Annie Currie
	💍 1922/2705
BDM Match (67%)	Harry Reuben Taylor	Margaret Adams Currie
	💍 1922/9527
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Governess
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Mangapapa, Gisborne	Mangapapa, Gisborne
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	Edward Murphy Memorial Home, Gisborne
Folio	3641
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Kane, Roman Catholic, Gisborne

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).