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 1183

District of Hawera Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar J. G. Gorman

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

2 July 1923

Leo St. John McGuire
Flora Cameron

Leo St John McGuire
Flora Cameron
💍 1923/4320

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Auroa
Hawera

1 year
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

6597

2 July 1923

P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

No	52
Date of Notice	2 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo St. John McGuire	Flora Cameron
BDM Match (98%)	Leo St John McGuire	Flora Cameron
	💍 1923/4320
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Auroa	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	6597
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1923
Officiating Minister	P. J. Power, Roman Catholic

3 July 1923

Matthew Thompson
Nellie Florence Taylor

Matthew Thompson
Nellie Florence Taylor
💍 1923/4322

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer Fitter
Housemaid

28
28

Ohangai
Ohangai

1 year
2 years

Registrar's Office, Hawera

6598

3 July 1923

J. G. Gorman, Registrar

No	53
Date of Notice	3 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Thompson	Nellie Florence Taylor
	💍 1923/4322
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer Fitter	Housemaid
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Ohangai	Ohangai
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hawera
Folio	6598
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1923
Officiating Minister	J. G. Gorman, Registrar

11 July 1923

Stephen Stanley Hunt
Fanny Wills

Stephen Stanley Hunt
Fanny Wills
💍 1923/4330

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

19
23

Mokoia
Manutahi

18 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

6599

Hannah Merinda Hunt, mother

11 July 1923

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	11 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Stanley Hunt	Fanny Wills
	💍 1923/4330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	23
Dwelling Place	Mokoia	Manutahi
Length of Residence	18 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	6599
Consent	Hannah Merinda Hunt, mother
Date of Certificate	11 July 1923
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

14 July 1923

Walter Stanley Smart
Alma Dorothy Hurrell

Walter Stanley Smart
Alma Dorothy Hurrell
💍 1923/4331

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

23
23

Hawera
Hawera

3 1/2 years
22 years

Methodist Church, Hawera

6600

14 July 1923

W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

No	55
Date of Notice	14 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stanley Smart	Alma Dorothy Hurrell
	💍 1923/4331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hawera
Folio	6600
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1923
Officiating Minister	W. J. Oxbrow, Methodist

16 July 1923

Leonard Thomas Armstrong
Anna Evelyn Schulty

Leonard Thomas Armstrong
Anna Evelyn Schultz
💍 1923/4332

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Assistant
Domestic Duties

21
21

Hawera
Hawera

4 days
7 days

Church of England, Hawera

6601

16 July 1923

H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

No	56
Date of Notice	16 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Thomas Armstrong	Anna Evelyn Schulty
BDM Match (97%)	Leonard Thomas Armstrong	Anna Evelyn Schultz
	💍 1923/4332
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	6601
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1923
Officiating Minister	H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

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).