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 775

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar L. W. Diamond

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

12 April 1923

William James Scott
Mary Emily Vickers

William James Scott
Mary Emily Vickers
💍 1923/3430

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
16

Mangateparu
Mangateparu

3 years
4 years

Registrar's office, Morrinsville

4033

Frederick Vickers, Father

12 April 1923

John Hayman Lynch, Deputy Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	12 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Scott	Mary Emily Vickers
	💍 1923/3430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	16
Dwelling Place	Mangateparu	Mangateparu
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Morrinsville
Folio	4033
Consent	Frederick Vickers, Father
Date of Certificate	12 April 1923
Officiating Minister	John Hayman Lynch, Deputy Registrar

17 April 1923

Albert Ernest Mohring
Mona Holly Paton

Albert Ernest Mohring
Mona Holly Paton
💍 1923/3431

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
20

Tahuna
Morrinsville

2 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville

4034

James Noel Paton, father

17 April 1923

Rev. Morgan Richards, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	17 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Ernest Mohring	Mona Holly Paton
	💍 1923/3431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	20
Dwelling Place	Tahuna	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville
Folio	4034
Consent	James Noel Paton, father
Date of Certificate	17 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Morgan Richards, Presbyterian

23 May 1923

Frederick George Russell
Mabel Alice Lock

Frederick George Russell
Mabel Alice Lock
💍 1923/3411

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Hand
Domestic

23
21

Motumaoho
Tauwhare

12 years
Residence of A. C. Lock, Tauwhare

Residence of A. C. Lock, Tauwhare

4038

23 May 1923

Rev. Thomas Roseveare, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	23 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Russell	Mabel Alice Lock
	💍 1923/3411
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Hand	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Motumaoho	Tauwhare
Length of Residence	12 years	Residence of A. C. Lock, Tauwhare
Marriage Place	Residence of A. C. Lock, Tauwhare
Folio	4038
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Roseveare, Presbyterian

28 May 1923

Leslie Allenton Smith
Amy Florence Woodley

Leslie Allenton Smith
Amy Florence Woodley
💍 1923/3408

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

5 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs M. A. Smith, Morrinsville

4035

28 May 1923

Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	28 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Allenton Smith	Amy Florence Woodley
	💍 1923/3408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	5 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs M. A. Smith, Morrinsville
Folio	4035
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

25 June 1923

Stephen Joseph Bain
Josephine Debora Beange

Stephen Joseph Bain
Josephine Debora Beange
💍 1923/10071

Widower
Spinster

Hairdresser
Domestic

43
25

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

10 years
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville

5225

25 June 1923

Rev. W. J. Fode, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	25 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Joseph Bain	Josephine Debora Beange
	💍 1923/10071
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Domestic
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Morrinsville
Folio	5225
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Fode, Roman Catholic

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).