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 1119

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. Vira

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

6 March 1923

Thomas Henry Webb
Doris Ruth Victoria Thomas

Thomas Henry Webb
Mavis Ruth Victoria Thomas
💍 1923/2151

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
18

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

1717

Martha Maria Thomas, Mother

6 March 1923

H. Vira, Registrar

No	21
Date of Notice	6 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Webb	Doris Ruth Victoria Thomas
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas Henry Webb	Mavis Ruth Victoria Thomas
	💍 1923/2151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	1717
Consent	Martha Maria Thomas, Mother
Date of Certificate	6 March 1923
Officiating Minister	H. Vira, Registrar

8 March 1923

John Carey
Doris Daisy Irene Reeston

John Carey
Doris Daisy Irene Beeston
💍 1923/2152

Bachelor
Spinster

Master mariner
Domestic

22
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 months
20 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1718

Victor Reeston, Father

8 March 1923

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	22
Date of Notice	8 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carey	Doris Daisy Irene Reeston
BDM Match (98%)	John Carey	Doris Daisy Irene Beeston
	💍 1923/2152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Master mariner	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1718
Consent	Victor Reeston, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

12 March 1923

Edgar Crossley
Dorothy Thomas

Edgar Crossley
Dorothy Thomas
💍 1923/2154

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
21

Kamo
Kamo

3 years
21 years

Residence of Rev. W. H. Sheer, Kamo

1719

12 March 1923

Rev. W. H. Sheer, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	12 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Crossley	Dorothy Thomas
	💍 1923/2154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. H. Sheer, Kamo
Folio	1719
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Sheer, Methodist

23 March 1923

Michael Soich
Sylvia Caroline Margarita Hill

Michael Soich
Sylvia Caroline Marguerite Hill
💍 1923/2155

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic

30
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

15 years
19 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1720

Margaret Hill, Mother

23 March 1923

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	24
Date of Notice	23 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Soich	Sylvia Caroline Margarita Hill
BDM Match (95%)	Michael Soich	Sylvia Caroline Marguerite Hill
	💍 1923/2155
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	15 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1720
Consent	Margaret Hill, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

24 March 1923

Leonard William Murphy
Mary Edmondson

Leonard William Murphy
Mary Edmondson
💍 1923/2156

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

14 days
14 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

1721

Edmund Danson Edmondson, Father

24 March 1923

H. Vira, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	24 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard William Murphy	Mary Edmondson
	💍 1923/2156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	1721
Consent	Edmund Danson Edmondson, Father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1923
Officiating Minister	H. Vira, Registrar

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).