Intentions to Marry, 1923 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840513, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923b contains pages 433-894, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 457

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar G. H. Morrish

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

29 January 1923

Frederick Henry Moody
Florence Kate Eland

Frederick Henry Moody
Florence Kate Eland
💍 1923/1930

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic Duties

33 years
25 years

Kaihu
Kaihu

3 1/2 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Kaihu

1418

29 January 1923

Dean W. G. Van Dyk, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	29 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Moody	Florence Kate Eland
	💍 1923/1930
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic Duties
Age	33 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Kaihu	Kaihu
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Kaihu
Folio	1418
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Dean W. G. Van Dyk, Roman Catholic

2 February 1923

Harold Norman Gill
Charlotte Muriel Page

Harold Norman Gill
Charlotte Muriel Page
💍 1923/1932

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Milliner

25 years
23 years

Dargaville
Mangawhare

3 years
9 years

Methodist Church, Mangawhare

1419

2 February 1923

Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Norman Gill	Charlotte Muriel Page
	💍 1923/1932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Milliner
Age	25 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	3 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mangawhare
Folio	1419
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

16 February 1923

Alfred Oseark George
Laura Annie Dunn

Alfred Oscar George
Laura Annie Dunn
💍 1923/1933

Divorced (Decree absolute 25 August 1921)
Spinster

Tobacconist and Billiard room proprietor
Milliner

46 years
28 years

Dargaville
Mangawhare

3 years
10 years

Methodist Church, Mangawhare

1420

16 February 1923

Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	16 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Oseark George	Laura Annie Dunn
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred Oscar George	Laura Annie Dunn
	💍 1923/1933
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 25 August 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Tobacconist and Billiard room proprietor	Milliner
Age	46 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mangawhare
Folio	1420
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. B. Gosnell, Methodist

26 February 1923

Alex Mitchelson Walters
Ena Frances Hemphill

Alex Mitchelson Walters
Ena Frances Hemphill
💍 1923/1934

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Nurse

25 years
24 years

Dargaville
Mapuna

3 years
2 months

Church of England, Dargaville

1421

26 February 1923

Rev. H. A. Johnson, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alex Mitchelson Walters	Ena Frances Hemphill
	💍 1923/1934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Nurse
Age	25 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Mapuna
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Dargaville
Folio	1421
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Johnson, Church of England

9 March 1923

Alexander Wallace McIlerway
Ruth Brace

Alexander Wallace McGillivray
Ruth Brace
💍 1923/1935

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter and joiner
Typiste

26 years
23 years

Avondale
Dargaville

1 year
5 years

Registrar's office, Dargaville

1422

9 March 1923

G. H. Morrish, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	9 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Wallace McIlerway	Ruth Brace
BDM Match (90%)	Alexander Wallace McGillivray	Ruth Brace
	💍 1923/1935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter and joiner	Typiste
Age	26 years	23 years
Dwelling Place	Avondale	Dargaville
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Dargaville
Folio	1422
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1923
Officiating Minister	G. H. Morrish, Registrar

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).