Intentions to Marry, 1924 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840521, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924b contains pages 445-906, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 485

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar G. Boagey

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

7 January 1924

Albert Edwin Bestar
Elizabeth Thomas

Albert Edwin Costar
Elizabeth Thomas
💍 1924/8778

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
21

Karaka
Papakura

7 years
5 years

Methodist Church, Papakura

1334

7 January 1924

Rev. J. W. Griffin, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Edwin Bestar	Elizabeth Thomas
BDM Match (95%)	Albert Edwin Costar	Elizabeth Thomas
	💍 1924/8778
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Karaka	Papakura
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Papakura
Folio	1334
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin, Methodist

19 January 1924

Arthur Cook
Esther Elizabeth Walsh

Arthur Cook
Esther Elizabeth Walsh
💍 1924/8755

Divorced 6 December 1923
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic

32
35

Clevedon
Clevedon

3 days
35 years

Presbyterian Church, Clevedon

1335

19 January 1924

Rev. D. R. Mcdonald, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cook	Esther Elizabeth Walsh
	💍 1924/8755
Condition	Divorced 6 December 1923	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic
Age	32	35
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	3 days	35 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Clevedon
Folio	1335
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. R. Mcdonald, Presbyterian

6 February 1924

Gordon Wilfrid Sparks
Emily Homewood

Gordon Wilfrid Sparks
Emily Homewood
💍 1924/8756

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
34

Ramarama
Ramarama

14 days
9 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ramarama

1336

6 February 1924

Rev. J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	6 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Wilfrid Sparks	Emily Homewood
	💍 1924/8756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	34
Dwelling Place	Ramarama	Ramarama
Length of Residence	14 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ramarama
Folio	1336
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Molloy, Roman Catholic

7 February 1924

James McEllinson Mcleod
Evelyn Mary Mcfear

James Mullinson McLeod
Evelyn Mary McLean
💍 1924/8757

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor Porter
Domestic

32
19

Paerata
Paerata

3 years
8 months

Paerata Hall

1337

Agnes Jane Bell Mcfear, Mother

7 February 1924

Rev. J. P. Bowie, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James McEllinson Mcleod	Evelyn Mary Mcfear
BDM Match (88%)	James Mullinson McLeod	Evelyn Mary McLean
	💍 1924/8757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor Porter	Domestic
Age	32	19
Dwelling Place	Paerata	Paerata
Length of Residence	3 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Paerata Hall
Folio	1337
Consent	Agnes Jane Bell Mcfear, Mother
Date of Certificate	7 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Bowie, Church of England

15 February 1924

Rupert Leslie Waters
Nora Marie Mcleod

Rupert Leslie Waters
Nora Marie Mellsop
💍 1924/8758

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower
Domestic

33
22

Clevedon
Clevedon

28 years
5 years

All Souls Church, Clevedon

1338

15 February 1924

W. H. W. Rattray, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	15 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Leslie Waters	Nora Marie Mcleod
BDM Match (89%)	Rupert Leslie Waters	Nora Marie Mellsop
	💍 1924/8758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	Domestic
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	28 years	5 years
Marriage Place	All Souls Church, Clevedon
Folio	1338
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1924
Officiating Minister	W. H. W. Rattray, 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).