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 528

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar Ferguson

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

8 February 1923

Francis Augustus Gibson
Jane Holmes Hunter

Francis Augustus Gibson
Jane Holmes Hunter
💍 1923/2528

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

38
32

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
10 years

House of J.D. Campbell, Frankton

1496

8 February 1923

Rev A.M. Aspland, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	8 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Augustus Gibson	Jane Holmes Hunter
	💍 1923/2528
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	House of J.D. Campbell, Frankton
Folio	1496
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A.M. Aspland, Presbyterian

13 February 1923

Thomas Levice Minford Millar
Jessie Elizabeth Black

Thomas Levice Minford Millar
Jessie Elizabeth Black
💍 1923/2529

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrical Engineer

38
33

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
3 years

House of Mr. J. Black, Rostrevor Street, Hamilton

1497

13 February 1923

Rev J.H. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	13 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Levice Minford Millar	Jessie Elizabeth Black
	💍 1923/2529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Engineer
Age	38	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of Mr. J. Black, Rostrevor Street, Hamilton
Folio	1497
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev J.H. Burrows, Presbyterian

13 February 1923

Ernest Sydney McDonald
Laura Brook

Ernest Sydney MacDonald
Laura Crook
💍 1923/2945

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

25
27

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
2 years

St. Peters Anglican Church, Hamilton

2667

13 February 1923

Rev E.M. Cowie, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	13 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Sydney McDonald	Laura Brook
BDM Match (93%)	Ernest Sydney MacDonald	Laura Crook
	💍 1923/2945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	2667
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev E.M. Cowie, Anglican

15 February 1923

Frederick Samuel James
Ellen Daly

Frederick Samuel James
Ellen Daly
💍 1923/2530

Bachelor
Spinster

Signwriter

33
34

Hamilton
Hamilton East

1 week
2 weeks

Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East

1498

15 February 1923

Rev M.J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	29
Date of Notice	15 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Samuel James	Ellen Daly
	💍 1923/2530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Signwriter
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	1 week	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, Hamilton East
Folio	1498
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev M.J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

16 February 1923

Daniel Grant
Elizabeth Cullen

Daniel Grant
Elizabeth Cullen
💍 1923/2531

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 14/2/23)

Draper

73
52

Ngaruawahia
Hamilton

9 years
5 days

Presbyterian Manse, Piako Street, Ngaruawahia

1499

16 February 1923

Rev R. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	16 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Grant	Elizabeth Cullen
	💍 1923/2531
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 14/2/23)
Profession	Draper
Age	73	52
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 years	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Piako Street, Ngaruawahia
Folio	1499
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 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).