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 560

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar P. A. Ewen

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

173

10 August 1923

Thomas Shiffington
Ella Mabel Barnes

Thomas Skiffington
Ella Mabel Barnes
💍 1923/4152

Widower
Spinster

Railway Employee

37
33

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
3 years

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East

6350

10 August 1923

Rev. M. Curley, Roman Catholic

No	173
Date of Notice	10 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Shiffington	Ella Mabel Barnes
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Skiffington	Ella Mabel Barnes
	💍 1923/4152
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East
Folio	6350
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Curley, Roman Catholic

174

13 August 1923

John Allen Haynes
Mary Louisa Bath

John Allen Haynes
Mary Louisa Bath
💍 1923/4160

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter

24
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

10 years
5 years

St Johns Methodist Church, Hamilton

6351

13 August 1923

Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

No	174
Date of Notice	13 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Allen Haynes	Mary Louisa Bath
	💍 1923/4160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Methodist Church, Hamilton
Folio	6351
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Ready, Methodist

175

18 August 1923

Alfred Eldon Graham
Hoosie Maud Rogers

Alfred Eldon Graham
Flossie Maud Rogers
💍 1923/4171

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

24
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 years
24 years

Presbyterian Manse, Piano Street, Claudelands

6352

18 August 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	175
Date of Notice	18 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Eldon Graham	Hoosie Maud Rogers
BDM Match (92%)	Alfred Eldon Graham	Flossie Maud Rogers
	💍 1923/4171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Piano Street, Claudelands
Folio	6352
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

176

20 August 1923

Roy Harris
Adeline Maud Mary B. Maguire

Roy Harris
Adeline Maude Maguire
💍 1923/4168

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer

38
28

East Tamaki
Hamilton

38 years
3 weeks

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East

6353

20 August 1923

Rev. M. J. Bleahley, Roman Catholic

No	176
Date of Notice	20 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Harris	Adeline Maud Mary B. Maguire
BDM Match (86%)	Roy Harris	Adeline Maude Maguire
	💍 1923/4168
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	East Tamaki	Hamilton
Length of Residence	38 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East
Folio	6353
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Bleahley, Roman Catholic

177

21 August 1923

Henry William Fish
Agnes Galloway

Henry William Fisk
Agnes Galloway
💍 1923/4176

Widower
Spinster

Farmer

55
53

Walton
Hamilton

11 years
1 week

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands

6354

21 August 1923

Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	21 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry William Fish	Agnes Galloway
BDM Match (97%)	Henry William Fisk	Agnes Galloway
	💍 1923/4176
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	55	53
Dwelling Place	Walton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	11 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands
Folio	6354
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Mackie, Presbyterian

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).