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 1116

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar F. Bira

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

20 January 1923

Charles Sherman
Beatrice Gatley

Charles Sherman
Beatrice Gatley
💍 1923/2160

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

21
17

Whangarei
Whangarei

10 years
8 years

Church of England, Whangarei

1702

Joseph Gatley, Father

20 January 1923

Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	20 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Sherman	Beatrice Gatley
	💍 1923/2160
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1702
Consent	Joseph Gatley, Father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

22 January 1923

William John McKinlay
Edna Karewa Swann

William John McKinlay
Edna Karewa Swann
💍 1923/2161

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
21

Moerewa
Whangarei

12 months
18 months

Residence of Edward Swann, Hatea Street, Whangarei

1703

22 January 1923

Rev. J. Benne, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	22 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John McKinlay	Edna Karewa Swann
	💍 1923/2161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Moerewa	Whangarei
Length of Residence	12 months	18 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Edward Swann, Hatea Street, Whangarei
Folio	1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Benne, Roman Catholic

23 January 1923

Charles Joseph Hathaway
Irene May Edwards

Charles Joseph Hathaway
Irene May Edwards
💍 1923/2162

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

36
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 days

Office of Registrar, Magistrates Court, Whangarei

1704

23 January 1923

F. Bira, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Joseph Hathaway	Irene May Edwards
	💍 1923/2162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Magistrates Court, Whangarei
Folio	1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1923
Officiating Minister	F. Bira, Registrar

30 January 1923

Edward John Hansen
Sylvia Victoria Plaw

Edward John Hansen
Sylvia Victoria Plaw
💍 1923/2163

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 days

Church of England, Whangarei

1705

30 January 1923

Rev. G. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward John Hansen	Sylvia Victoria Plaw
	💍 1923/2163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	1705
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. G. Cruickshank, Church of England

3 February 1923

John Cameron Crawford
Mary McKenna Whitelaw

John Cameron Crawford
Mary McKenna Whitelaw
💍 1923/2164

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop assistant

24
24

Utiki
Whangarei

24 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

1706

3 February 1923

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	3 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cameron Crawford	Mary McKenna Whitelaw
	💍 1923/2164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop assistant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Utiki	Whangarei
Length of Residence	24 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	1706
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, 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).