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 1275

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar P. H. 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

3 April 1923

Harry Forland
Frances Pearl Robinson

Harry Tosland
Frances Pearl Robinson
💍 1923/8906

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
18

Pihama
Auroa

30 years
7 years

Residence of William Herbert Robinson

4316

William Herbert Robinson, father

3 April 1923

Rev. James D. Smith

No	5
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Forland	Frances Pearl Robinson
BDM Match (92%)	Harry Tosland	Frances Pearl Robinson
	💍 1923/8906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	18
Dwelling Place	Pihama	Auroa
Length of Residence	30 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of William Herbert Robinson
Folio	4316
Consent	William Herbert Robinson, father
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. James D. Smith

11 April 1923

Clifford Douglas Field
Agnes Dorothy Luck

Clifford Douglas Field
Agnes Dorothy Lusk
💍 1923/8907

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
26

Oaonui
Oaonui

15 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Opunake

4317

11 April 1923

Rev. R. A. Moore, Presbyterian Church

No	6
Date of Notice	11 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Douglas Field	Agnes Dorothy Luck
BDM Match (97%)	Clifford Douglas Field	Agnes Dorothy Lusk
	💍 1923/8907
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Oaonui	Oaonui
Length of Residence	15 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Opunake
Folio	4317
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. A. Moore, Presbyterian Church

16 April 1923

Oswald Vernon Marsh
Amy Catherine Magee

Oswald Vernon Marx
Amy Catherine Magee
💍 1923/8908

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
20

Mangato Ki
Opunake

25 years
2 years

Church of England, Opunake

4318

John Henry Magee, father

16 April 1923

Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	16 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Vernon Marsh	Amy Catherine Magee
BDM Match (95%)	Oswald Vernon Marx	Amy Catherine Magee
	💍 1923/8908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Mangato Ki	Opunake
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Opunake
Folio	4318
Consent	John Henry Magee, father
Date of Certificate	16 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

1 May 1923

Rudolph Emil Tronson
Helena Sara Conaglen

Rudolph Emil Aronson Baeyertz
Helena Sara Conaglen
💍 1923/8909

Bachelor
Spinster

Managing Clerk
Domestic duties

27
27

Opunake
Pihama

2 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Presbytery, Opunake

4319

1 May 1923

Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic Church

No	8
Date of Notice	1 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rudolph Emil Tronson	Helena Sara Conaglen
BDM Match (83%)	Rudolph Emil Aronson Baeyertz	Helena Sara Conaglen
	💍 1923/8909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Managing Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Pihama
Length of Residence	2 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Presbytery, Opunake
Folio	4319
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic Church

25 May 1923

Walter Ernest Hopkins
Mary Elizabeth Rowlands

Walter Ernest Hopkins
Mary Elizabeth Rowlands
💍 1923/8911

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
23

Rahotu
Rahotu

25 years
2 years

Church of England, Rahotu

4320

25 May 1923

Rev. C. W. Solomon, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	25 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Ernest Hopkins	Mary Elizabeth Rowlands
	💍 1923/8911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Rahotu	Rahotu
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rahotu
Folio	4320
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Solomon, 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).