Intentions to Marry, 1923 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840514, 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.

1923c contains pages 895-1334, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1117

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar O. B. [illegible]

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

7 February 1923

Thomas Kerr Henry Wallbran
Phyllis Alma Smith

Thomas Kerr Henry Walbran
Phyllis Alma Smith
💍 1923/2165

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank clerk
Domestic

24
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 years
16 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1707

Fred Beeton Smith, Father

7 February 1923

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	7 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Kerr Henry Wallbran	Phyllis Alma Smith
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Kerr Henry Walbran	Phyllis Alma Smith
	💍 1923/2165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank clerk	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1707
Consent	Fred Beeton Smith, Father
Date of Certificate	7 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

13 February 1923

Robert Cyril Deveran Cavanagh
Jessie Clara Rathleen Cooke

Robert Cyril Deverau Cavanagh
Jessie Clara Kathleen Cooke
💍 1923/2166

Bachelor
Spinster

Machine driller
Domestic

22
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

1 year
21 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1708

13 February 1923

Rev. J. P. Weatherhog, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	13 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Cyril Deveran Cavanagh	Jessie Clara Rathleen Cooke
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Cyril Deverau Cavanagh	Jessie Clara Kathleen Cooke
	💍 1923/2166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machine driller	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	1 year	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1708
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Weatherhog, Church of England

15 February 1923

Norman Fleming
Alice Mary Morris

Norman Fleming
Alice Mary Morris
💍 1923/2143

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Nurse

28
28

Whangarei
Whangarei

13 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

1709

15 February 1923

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	15 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Fleming	Alice Mary Morris
	💍 1923/2143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Nurse
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	13 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	1709
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

22 February 1923

John Drew Colebrook Keyte
Lucy Hazel Lydia Lovatt

John Drew Colebrook Keyte
Lucy Hazel Lydia Lovatt
💍 1923/2144

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanical Engineer
Clerk

24
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

8 years
18 years

Baptist Church, Whangarei

1710

22 February 1923

Rev. J. Denson, Baptist

No	14
Date of Notice	22 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Drew Colebrook Keyte	Lucy Hazel Lydia Lovatt
	💍 1923/2144
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanical Engineer	Clerk
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Whangarei
Folio	1710
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Denson, Baptist

23 February 1923

Frank Cameron
Ethel Morgan

Frank Cameron
Ethel Morgan
💍 1923/2145

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

27
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

24 years
24 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1711

23 February 1923

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	23 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Cameron	Ethel Morgan
	💍 1923/2145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1711
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

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).