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 791

District of Ngaruawahia Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar R. B. Nixon

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

10 April 1923

John James Rumney
Helen McGregor

John James Rumney
Helen McGregor
💍 1923/3414

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
29

Koma Korau
Gordonton

26 years
11 years

Residence of John McGregor, Gordonton

4041

10 April 1923

Rev. J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

No	7
Date of Notice	10 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Rumney	Helen McGregor
	💍 1923/3414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Koma Korau	Gordonton
Length of Residence	26 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John McGregor, Gordonton
Folio	4041
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. McKenzie, Presbyterian Minister

14 April 1923

Sydney Henry Frances Smith
Mona Pauline Johnston

Sydney Henry Francis Smith
Mona Pauline Johnston
💍 1923/3415

Bachelor
Spinster

Watchmaker
Domestic duties

26
20

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

7 months
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia

4042

Joseph S. Johnston, Father

14 April 1923

Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian Minister

No	8
Date of Notice	14 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Henry Frances Smith	Mona Pauline Johnston
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Henry Francis Smith	Mona Pauline Johnston
	💍 1923/3415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Watchmaker	Domestic duties
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	7 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4042
Consent	Joseph S. Johnston, Father
Date of Certificate	14 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian Minister

6 June 1923

James Cunningham
Helen Margaret Mayes

James Cunningham
Helen Margaret Mayes
💍 1923/3416

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

40
24

Whatawhata
Whatawhata

3 years
1 year

Residence of J. A. Blair, Great South Road, Whatawhata

4043

7 June 1923

Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian Minister

No	9
Date of Notice	6 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cunningham	Helen Margaret Mayes
	💍 1923/3416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Whatawhata	Whatawhata
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of J. A. Blair, Great South Road, Whatawhata
Folio	4043
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Mill, Presbyterian Minister

9 June 1923

Florence Alexander Williams
Cecil Mary Goulstone

Clarence Alexander Williams
Cecil Mary Goulstone
💍 1923/3417

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

51
38

Taupiri
Taupiri

5 years
3 years

Church of England, Ngaruawahia

4044

9 June 1923

Rev. C. F. R. Harrison, Church of England Minister

No	10
Date of Notice	9 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Florence Alexander Williams	Cecil Mary Goulstone
BDM Match (96%)	Clarence Alexander Williams	Cecil Mary Goulstone
	💍 1923/3417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	51	38
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Taupiri
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4044
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. F. R. Harrison, Church of England Minister

13 June 1923

Edward Farregel
Hazel Lydia Mason

Edward Ferregel
Hazel Lydia Mason
💍 1923/3419

Bachelor
Widow (28-11-14)

Butcher
Domestic duties

38
33

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

6 years
1 year

Office of Registration of Marriages, Ngaruawahia

4045

13 June 1923

Registrar of Marriages

No	11
Date of Notice	13 June 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Farregel	Hazel Lydia Mason
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Ferregel	Hazel Lydia Mason
	💍 1923/3419
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (28-11-14)
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	6 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of Registration of Marriages, Ngaruawahia
Folio	4045
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 June 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

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).