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 595

District of Hikurangi Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar C. Williams

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

9 April 1923

Joseph Darley
Katerina Waetford

Joseph Darley
Katerina Waetford
💍 1923/8663

Divorced 7th October 1921
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
20

Whananaki
Whakapara

10 years
20 years

Native Hall Whakapara

3996

Mereana Peruhi, Mother

9 April 1923

Rev. M. J. Byrt (Presbyterian)

No	6
Date of Notice	9 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Darley	Katerina Waetford
	💍 1923/8663
Condition	Divorced 7th October 1921	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Whananaki	Whakapara
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Native Hall Whakapara
Folio	3996
Consent	Mereana Peruhi, Mother
Date of Certificate	9 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Byrt (Presbyterian)

6 June 1923

Francis George Covacich
Grace Annie Mckinlay

Francis George Covacich
Grace Annie McKinlay
💍 1923/8664

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
28

Puhipuhi
Otonga

25 years
2 months

Methodist Church Hikurangi

3997

6 June 1923

Rev. W. H. Speer (Methodist)

No	7
Date of Notice	6 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Covacich	Grace Annie Mckinlay
BDM Match (98%)	Francis George Covacich	Grace Annie McKinlay
	💍 1923/8664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Puhipuhi	Otonga
Length of Residence	25 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hikurangi
Folio	3997
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer (Methodist)

6 June 1923

Stanley George Rankivell
Joy Dobbs

Stanley George Nankivell
Ivy Dobbs
💍 1923/8665

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
21

Hikurangi
Hukerenui

23 years
21 years

Mr. J. Dobbs dwelling Hukerenui

3998

6 June 1923

Rev. M. J. Byrt (Presbyterian)

No	8
Date of Notice	6 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley George Rankivell	Joy Dobbs
BDM Match (87%)	Stanley George Nankivell	Ivy Dobbs
	💍 1923/8665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi	Hukerenui
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Mr. J. Dobbs dwelling Hukerenui
Folio	3998
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Byrt (Presbyterian)

14 June 1923

Samuel Campbell Brydon
Eileen Rose Bolton

Samuel Campbell Brydon
Eileen Rose Bolton
💍 1923/8666

Bachelor
Divorced 12th December 1921

Farmer
Domestic Duties

36
26

Riponui
Riponui

3 months
2 years

Registrar's Office Hikurangi

3999

14 June 1923

C. Williams, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	14 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Campbell Brydon	Eileen Rose Bolton
	💍 1923/8666
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 12th December 1921
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Riponui	Riponui
Length of Residence	3 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hikurangi
Folio	3999
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 June 1923
Officiating Minister	C. Williams, Registrar

19 June 1923

Andrew Meldrum Campbell
Agnes Dunn

Andrew Meldrum Campbell
Agnes Dunn
💍 1923/8667

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

24
22

Hikurangi
Hikurangi

1 year
2 months

Residence of Mr. James Sinclair Hikurangi

4000

Residence of Mr. James Sinclair

14 June 1923

Rev. W. H. Speer (Methodist)

No	10
Date of Notice	19 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Meldrum Campbell	Agnes Dunn
	💍 1923/8667
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi	Hikurangi
Length of Residence	1 year	2 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. James Sinclair Hikurangi
Folio	4000
Consent	Residence of Mr. James Sinclair
Date of Certificate	14 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer (Methodist)

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).