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 537

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. McAttrick

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 April 1923

Wilfred Reid Wheeler
Rita Louisa Smith

Wilfred Reid Wheeler
Rita Louisa Smith
💍 1923/8564

Bachelor
Spinster

Picture Proprietor

28
25

Auckland
Hamilton

28 years
15 months

St Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

3921

2 April 1923

Rev. C. B. W. Seton, Anglican

No	65
Date of Notice	2 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Reid Wheeler	Rita Louisa Smith
	💍 1923/8564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Picture Proprietor
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Hamilton
Length of Residence	28 years	15 months
Marriage Place	St Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	3921
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. B. W. Seton, Anglican

3 April 1923

Alan Alfred Allan
Catherine Mary Cron

Alan Alfred Allan
Catherine Mary Cron
💍 1923/8565

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Telegraphist

30
25

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 years
6 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

3922

3 April 1923

Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	66
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Alfred Allan	Catherine Mary Cron
	💍 1923/8565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Telegraphist
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	3922
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

3 April 1923

Robert William Gower
Evalena Fremonger

Robert William Gower
Evalena Iremonger
💍 1923/8566

Widower 7/4/1919
Spinster

Carrier & Contractor
Dressmaker

52
37

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
8 years

Residence of Bride's parents, 33 London Street, Hamilton

3923

3 April 1923

Rev. E. T. Olds, Methodist

No	67
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert William Gower	Evalena Fremonger
BDM Match (97%)	Robert William Gower	Evalena Iremonger
	💍 1923/8566
Condition	Widower 7/4/1919	Spinster
Profession	Carrier & Contractor	Dressmaker
Age	52	37
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, 33 London Street, Hamilton
Folio	3923
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. T. Olds, Methodist

3 April 1923

Lionel Cyril Day
Georgina Henrietta Richmond

Lionel Cyril Day
Georgina Henrietta Richmond
💍 1923/8567

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

29
27

Hamilton
Hamilton

one week
one month

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Hamilton

3924

3 April 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Cyril Day	Georgina Henrietta Richmond
	💍 1923/8567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	one week	one month
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Hamilton
Folio	3924
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

3 April 1923

Reginald Augustus Thomas
Margaret Amy Reid

Reginald Augustus Thomas
Margaret Amy Reid
💍 1923/8568

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
24

Ngahinapouri
Ngahinapouri

4 years
24 years

Residence of Mr Stewart Reid, Ngahinapouri

3925

3 April 1923

Rev. D. R. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Augustus Thomas	Margaret Amy Reid
	💍 1923/8568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Ngahinapouri	Ngahinapouri
Length of Residence	4 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Stewart Reid, Ngahinapouri
Folio	3925
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. McKenzie, 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).