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 1279

District of Opunake Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar H. Brech

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

14 July 1923

Michael Fennell
Leila Marguerite Vincent

Michael Fennell
Leila Marguerite Vincent
💍 1923/3787

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
32

Opunake
Opunake

27 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church, Opunake

6672

14 July 1923

Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

No	16
Date of Notice	14 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Fennell	Leila Marguerite Vincent
	💍 1923/3787
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	32
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	27 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Opunake
Folio	6672
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Kennedy, Roman Catholic

23 July 1923

Charles Scott Dudley
Louise Evelyn Stockman

Charles Scott Dudley
Louisa Evelyn Stockman
💍 1923/3788

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

40
25

Opunake
Opunake

28 years
7 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

6673

23 July 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

No	17
Date of Notice	23 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Scott Dudley	Louise Evelyn Stockman
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Scott Dudley	Louisa Evelyn Stockman
	💍 1923/3788
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	28 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake
Folio	6673
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

24 July 1923

George Henry Vincent
Lucy Vincent

George Henry Vincent
Lucy Vincent
💍 1923/3789

Widower (25 November 1918)
Widow (16 November 1915)

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
33

Opunake
Opunake

4 days
33 years

Methodist Church, Opunake

6674

24 July 1923

Rev. E. S. Harkness, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	24 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Vincent	Lucy Vincent
	💍 1923/3789
Condition	Widower (25 November 1918)	Widow (16 November 1915)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	33
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	4 days	33 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Opunake
Folio	6674
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. S. Harkness, Methodist

7 August 1923

Samuel Arbuckle
Ketha Margaret Markham

Samuel Arbuckle
Ketha Margaret Markham
💍 1923/3790

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
23

Oaonui
Oaonui

10 days
23 years

Presbyterian Church, Opunake

6675

7 August 1923

W. H. A. Moore, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	7 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Arbuckle	Ketha Margaret Markham
	💍 1923/3790
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Oaonui	Oaonui
Length of Residence	10 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Opunake
Folio	6675
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 August 1923
Officiating Minister	W. H. A. Moore, Presbyterian

21 August 1923

Henry James Pickering
Emily Dorrell Lauert

Henry James Pickering
Dorrell Emily Lavert
💍 1923/4400

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocers Assistant
Domestic duties

25
21

Opunake
Opunake

3 weeks
2 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

6676

21 August 1923

Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

No	20
Date of Notice	21 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry James Pickering	Emily Dorrell Lauert
BDM Match (68%)	Henry James Pickering	Dorrell Emily Lavert
	💍 1923/4400
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocers Assistant	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Opunake	Opunake
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Opunake
Folio	6676
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Opunake

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).