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 1134

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar A. Marshall

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

17 July 1923

Thomas Michael O'Carroll
Vivienne Muriel Child

Thomas Michael O'Carroll
Vivienne Muriel Child
💍 1923/4917

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
23

Thames
Whangarei

9 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Maungakaramea

7494

17 July 1923

Rev. Father O'Doherty, Roman Catholic

No	69
Date of Notice	17 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Michael O'Carroll	Vivienne Muriel Child
	💍 1923/4917
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Whangarei
Length of Residence	9 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Maungakaramea
Folio	7494
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Doherty, Roman Catholic

20 July 1923

Edgar Stanley Edge
Ada Ester Webb

Edgar Stanley Edge
Ada Ester Webb
💍 1923/4291

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
20

Whangarei
Whangarei

22 years
6 months

Church of England, Whangarei

6568

Lucy Culham, mother

20 July 1923

Rev. L. P. Weatherhog, Anglican

No	70
Date of Notice	20 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Stanley Edge	Ada Ester Webb
	💍 1923/4291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	6568
Consent	Lucy Culham, mother
Date of Certificate	20 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. P. Weatherhog, Anglican

26 July 1923

Clarence David Burson
Alice Miriam Rainbow

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic

22
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 years
1 month

Church of England, Whangarei

26 July 1923

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Anglican

No	71
Date of Notice	26 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence David Burson	Alice Miriam Rainbow
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Anglican

31 July 1923

Reuben Fielding Warsnop
Elizabeth Augustin

Reuben Fielding Worsnop
Elizabeth Augustin
💍 1923/4293

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

64
20

Ruatangata
Ruatangata

3 years
3 years

Methodist Church Parsonage, Whangarei

6569

Sarah Ann Augustin, mother

31 July 1923

Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

No	72
Date of Notice	31 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reuben Fielding Warsnop	Elizabeth Augustin
BDM Match (98%)	Reuben Fielding Worsnop	Elizabeth Augustin
	💍 1923/4293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	64	20
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Parsonage, Whangarei
Folio	6569
Consent	Sarah Ann Augustin, mother
Date of Certificate	31 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Speer, Methodist

3 August 1923

Charles Orlando Roscoe
Dulcie Smith

Charles Orlando Roscoe
Dulcie Smith
💍 1923/4294

Bachelor
Divorcee (Decree absolute 30-5-23)

Grocer
Tailoress

34
33

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

6570

3 August 1923

Rev. G. W. Lochare, Presbyterian

No	73
Date of Notice	3 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Orlando Roscoe	Dulcie Smith
	💍 1923/4294
Condition	Bachelor	Divorcee (Decree absolute 30-5-23)
Profession	Grocer	Tailoress
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	6570
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochare, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).