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 510

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar H. G. Hill

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

141

26 November 1923

James Henry Paton
Nesta Helen Gordon

James Henry Paton
Nesta Helen Gordon
💍 1923/6770

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
24

Ormond
Ormond, Poverty Bay

About 16 years
Life

Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

8840

26 November 1923

Rev. Edwin Thomas Cox (Methodist Minister)

No	141
Date of Notice	26 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Paton	Nesta Helen Gordon
	💍 1923/6770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Ormond	Ormond, Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	About 16 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	8840
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edwin Thomas Cox (Methodist Minister)

142

26 November 1923

Harold Vincent Willow
Eliza Adelaide Graham

Harold Vincent William
Eliza Adelaide Graham
💍 1923/6771

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Matawai, Poverty Bay
Puha

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay

8841

26 November 1923

Rev. Archibald Ernest Hunt, Presbyterian, Ormond, Poverty Bay

No	142
Date of Notice	26 November 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Vincent Willow	Eliza Adelaide Graham
BDM Match (93%)	Harold Vincent William	Eliza Adelaide Graham
	💍 1923/6771
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Matawai, Poverty Bay	Puha
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Karaka, Poverty Bay
Folio	8841
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 November 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archibald Ernest Hunt, Presbyterian, Ormond, Poverty Bay

143

1 December 1923

Thomas Stanley Hatten
Jessie Campbell Stevenson

Thomas Stanley Hatten
Jessie Campbell Stevenson
💍 1923/6772

Bachelor
Spinster

House Carpenter
Domestic Duties

35
25

Gisborne
Gisborne

32 years
11 years

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

8842

1 December 1923

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian, Gisborne

No	143
Date of Notice	1 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stanley Hatten	Jessie Campbell Stevenson
	💍 1923/6772
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	House Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	32 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	8842
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian, Gisborne

144

3 December 1923

Charles Myles Falkner
Vera Ormond

Charles Myles Falkner
Vena Ormond
💍 1923/6773

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Wharekopae, Poverty Bay
Gisborne

23 years
Life

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

8843

3 December 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	144
Date of Notice	3 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Myles Falkner	Vera Ormond
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Myles Falkner	Vena Ormond
	💍 1923/6773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Wharekopae, Poverty Bay	Gisborne
Length of Residence	23 years	Life
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	8843
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

145

3 December 1923

Henry Valyfield Steele
Zoe Godfrey

Henry Valyfield Steele
Zoe Godfrey
💍 1923/6774

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Clerk

25
24

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 days
14 years

The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

8844

3 December 1923

Rev. Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

No	145
Date of Notice	3 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Valyfield Steele	Zoe Godfrey
	💍 1923/6774
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	8844
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Edwin Thomas Cox, Methodist Minister, Gisborne

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).