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 637

District of Kaitaia Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar H. A. Munn

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

24 July 1923

Lewis De andrad
Petrea Lovisa Connor Scott

Lewis De Andrad
Petrea Lovisa Connor Scott
💍 1923/4187

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Midwife

27
31

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Kaitaia

6388

24 July 1923

H. A. Munn, Registrar of Marriages, Kaitaia

No	7
Date of Notice	24 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis De andrad	Petrea Lovisa Connor Scott
BDM Match (97%)	Lewis De Andrad	Petrea Lovisa Connor Scott
	💍 1923/4187
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Midwife
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Kaitaia
Folio	6388
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1923
Officiating Minister	H. A. Munn, Registrar of Marriages, Kaitaia

1 August 1923

Walter Baden Beard
Florence Mabel Matthews

Walter Baden Beard
Florence Mabel Matthews
💍 1923/4188

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry Driver
Domestic Duties

21
21

Awanui
Awanui

2 1/2 years
21 years

St Saviours Church Kaitaia

6389

1 August 1923

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	1 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Baden Beard	Florence Mabel Matthews
	💍 1923/4188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Awanui	Awanui
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church Kaitaia
Folio	6389
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Anglican

7 August 1923

George Bell
Rachael Myrtle Sherman

George Bell
Rachael Myrtle Sherman
💍 1923/4189

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Kaimaumau
Kaimaumau

4 months
12 months

Registrar's Office Kaitaia

6390

7 August 1923

H. A. Munn, Registrar of Marriages, Kaitaia

No	9
Date of Notice	7 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Bell	Rachael Myrtle Sherman
	💍 1923/4189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Kaimaumau	Kaimaumau
Length of Residence	4 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Kaitaia
Folio	6390
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1923
Officiating Minister	H. A. Munn, Registrar of Marriages, Kaitaia

23 August 1923

Walter Roy Langley
Margaret Jane Garnish

Walter Roy Langley
Margaret Jane Cammish
💍 1923/4190

Bachelor
Widow

Teacher of Music
Ladies Outfitter

33
38

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

3 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

St Saviours Church Kaitaia

6391

23 August 1923

Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	23 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Roy Langley	Margaret Jane Garnish
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Roy Langley	Margaret Jane Cammish
	💍 1923/4190
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Teacher of Music	Ladies Outfitter
Age	33	38
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Saviours Church Kaitaia
Folio	6391
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. W. Bedwell, Anglican

17 September 1923

Leo Thornton Perkinson
Edith Ellen Thompson

Leo Thornton Perkinson
Edith Eileen Thompson
💍 1923/4191

Bachelor
Spinster

Millhand
Domestic Duties

23
18

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

6 years
10 years

Takahue Hall, Takahue

6392

Sarah Ann Thompson, Mother

17 September 1923

Rev. E. J. Clarke, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	17 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Thornton Perkinson	Edith Ellen Thompson
BDM Match (95%)	Leo Thornton Perkinson	Edith Eileen Thompson
	💍 1923/4191
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Millhand	Domestic Duties
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	6 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Takahue Hall, Takahue
Folio	6392
Consent	Sarah Ann Thompson, Mother
Date of Certificate	17 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Clarke, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).