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 1121

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. B. Fira

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

26 March 1923

Ernest William Thomas
Margaret Helen Teel

Ernest William Thomas
Margaret Helen Teal
💍 1923/2157

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 days
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

1722

26 March 1923

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	26 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest William Thomas	Margaret Helen Teel
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest William Thomas	Margaret Helen Teal
	💍 1923/2157
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	1722
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

27 March 1923

Henry Bryden Whitaker
Florence Mary Louisa Hutton

Henry Bryden Whitelaw
Florence Mary Louisa Hutton
💍 1923/2158

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
18

Whangarei
Whangarei

26 years
14 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

1723

Florence Amelia Louisa Hutton, Mother

27 March 1923

Registrar

No	27
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Bryden Whitaker	Florence Mary Louisa Hutton
BDM Match (91%)	Henry Bryden Whitelaw	Florence Mary Louisa Hutton
	💍 1923/2158
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	26 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	1723
Consent	Florence Amelia Louisa Hutton, Mother
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

27 March 1923

Stanley Howard Ormandy
Rhoda Alice Hayward

Stanley Howard Ormandy
Rhoda Alice Hayward
💍 1923/2933

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

25
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 days
1 year

Church of England, Whangarei

2631

Frederick Palmer, Father

27 March 1923

Rev. G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Howard Ormandy	Rhoda Alice Hayward
	💍 1923/2933
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 days	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	2631
Consent	Frederick Palmer, Father
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

28 March 1923

Thomas Campbell Wilson
Margaret Agnes Porter

Thomas Campbell Wilson
Margaret Agnes Procter
💍 1923/2159

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

35
25

Kamo
Whangarei

4 years
13 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1724

28 March 1923

Rev. G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	28 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Campbell Wilson	Margaret Agnes Porter
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Campbell Wilson	Margaret Agnes Procter
	💍 1923/2159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1724
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

28 March 1923

Percival Clifton Jordan
Helena May Allott Mongham

Percival Clifton Jordan
Helena May Allott Mangham
💍 1923/2934

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil servant
Clerk

36
26

Wellington
Whangarei

3 1/2 years

Christ Church, Whangarei

2632

28 March 1923

Rev. G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	28 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Clifton Jordan	Helena May Allott Mongham
BDM Match (98%)	Percival Clifton Jordan	Helena May Allott Mangham
	💍 1923/2934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil servant	Clerk
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Whangarei
Length of Residence		3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Whangarei
Folio	2632
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. 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).