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 877

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. Ramsay

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 January 1923

George Ivanov Alack
Lily Baden Anger

George Ivanov Alack
Lily Baden Auger
💍 1923/900

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

25
22

Whangarata
Whangarata

2 years
1 week

Registrar's Office, Pukekohe

1603

2 January 1923

J. Ramsay, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	2 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Ivanov Alack	Lily Baden Anger
BDM Match (97%)	George Ivanov Alack	Lily Baden Auger
	💍 1923/900
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarata	Whangarata
Length of Residence	2 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pukekohe
Folio	1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1923
Officiating Minister	J. Ramsay, Registrar

15 January 1923

John Shier Gillon
Grace Maud Wright

John Shier Gillon
Grace Maud Wright
💍 1923/901

Widower (14 February 1920)
Spinster

Retired Farmer
Domestic Duties

56
44

Devonport
Pukekohe

2 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Pukekohe

1604

15 January 1923

Rev. J. Olphert, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Shier Gillon	Grace Maud Wright
	💍 1923/901
Condition	Widower (14 February 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Retired Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	56	44
Dwelling Place	Devonport	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pukekohe
Folio	1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Olphert, Methodist

20 January 1923

Richard Edward Henry Pilson
Gladys Kate Sears

Richard Edward Henry Pilson
Gladys Kate Sears
💍 1923/902

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Nurse

26
26

Napier
Pukekohe

7 years

Church of England, Pukekohe

1605

20 January 1923

Rev. J. Bowie, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Edward Henry Pilson	Gladys Kate Sears
	💍 1923/902
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Nurse
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Pukekohe
Length of Residence		7 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukekohe
Folio	1605
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bowie, Church of England

2 February 1923

William Henry Evans
Lily Irene Jones

William Henry Evans
Lily Irene Jones
💍 1923/903

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Shop Assistant

29
22

Pukekohe
Auckland

18 months
14 months

St. Matthews Church of England, Auckland

1606

2 February 1923

Rev. H. Grant Cowan, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Evans	Lily Irene Jones
	💍 1923/903
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Shop Assistant
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Auckland
Length of Residence	18 months	14 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church of England, Auckland
Folio	1606
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Grant Cowan, Church of England

6 February 1923

Selwyn Allan Turner
Myrtle Eleanor Berriman

Selwyn Allan Turner
Myrtle Eleanor Berriman
💍 1923/904

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Domestic duties

21
23

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

2 days
16 years

Church of England, Pukekohe

1607

6 February 1923

Rev. J. Bowie, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	6 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn Allan Turner	Myrtle Eleanor Berriman
	💍 1923/904
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Domestic duties
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	2 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukekohe
Folio	1607
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Bowie, Church of England

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).