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 1118

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar F. A. F. [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

26 February 1923

Charles Stanley Howatt
Eileen Susannah Duncan

Charles Stanley Lovatt
Eileen Susannah Duncan
💍 1923/2146

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Dressmaker

29
27

Whangarei
Whangarei

23 years
18 years

Baptist Church, Whangarei

1712

26 February 1923

Rev. F. Sansom, Baptist

No	16
Date of Notice	26 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stanley Howatt	Eileen Susannah Duncan
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Stanley Lovatt	Eileen Susannah Duncan
	💍 1923/2146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Dressmaker
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Whangarei
Folio	1712
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Sansom, Baptist

26 February 1923

John Murdoch Whitelaw
Ida Winnifred Benteon

John Murdoch Whitelaw
Ida Winniefred Bentson
💍 1923/2147

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Shop assistant

24
18

Kamo
Kamo

3 months
2 months

Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei

1713

Winifred Alice Waugh (formerly Benteon), mother of Ida Winnifred Benteon

26 February 1923

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	26 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Murdoch Whitelaw	Ida Winnifred Benteon
BDM Match (95%)	John Murdoch Whitelaw	Ida Winniefred Bentson
	💍 1923/2147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Shop assistant
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Whangarei
Folio	1713
Consent	Winifred Alice Waugh (formerly Benteon), mother of Ida Winnifred Benteon
Date of Certificate	26 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

27 February 1923

Harold Wilson
Ivy Kathleen Neary

Harold Wilson
Ivy Kathleen Neary
💍 1923/2148

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

29
29

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
27 years

Christ Church, Whangarei

1714

27 February 1923

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	27 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Wilson	Ivy Kathleen Neary
	💍 1923/2148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	27 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Whangarei
Folio	1714
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

3 March 1923

James William Pearce Tito
Utukore Pirihi

James William Peerce Tito
Utukore Pirihi
💍 1923/2149

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
19

Otuka
Takahiwai

7 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

1715

Tauhon Pirihi, father of bride

3 March 1923

F. Rice, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	3 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Pearce Tito	Utukore Pirihi
BDM Match (98%)	James William Peerce Tito	Utukore Pirihi
	💍 1923/2149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Otuka	Takahiwai
Length of Residence	7 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	1715
Consent	Tauhon Pirihi, father of bride
Date of Certificate	3 March 1923
Officiating Minister	F. Rice, Registrar

5 March 1923

Stephen George Bignell
Ruth Ada Amoore

Stephen George Bignell
Ruth Ada Amoore
💍 1923/2150

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic

21
21

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 months
2 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1716

5 March 1923

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	5 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen George Bignell	Ruth Ada Amoore
	💍 1923/2150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1716
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

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).