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 489

District of Drury Quarter ending 30 September 1924 Registrar S. P. [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

10 July 1924

Albert Gordon Maxwell
Agnes Phesan Waugh

Albert Gordon Maxwell
Agnes Alison Waugh
💍 1924/4945

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
21

Drury
Papakura

20 years
12 months

Residence of Mr D Waugh, Papakura

6574

10 June 1924

Rev. F Hales

No	16
Date of Notice	10 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Gordon Maxwell	Agnes Phesan Waugh
BDM Match (89%)	Albert Gordon Maxwell	Agnes Alison Waugh
	💍 1924/4945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Drury	Papakura
Length of Residence	20 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr D Waugh, Papakura
Folio	6574
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. F Hales

26 July 1924

Louis John Thomas
Marie Jephson

Louis John Thomas
Marie Jephson
💍 1924/5938

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer and Bricklayer
Dressmaker

23
18

Papakura
Papakura

5 years
6 years

Church of England, Papakura

7802

Grie Jephson, Father

26 July 1924

Rev. W. C. Wood

No	17
Date of Notice	26 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis John Thomas	Marie Jephson
	💍 1924/5938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer and Bricklayer	Dressmaker
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Papakura
Folio	7802
Consent	Grie Jephson, Father
Date of Certificate	26 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood

28 July 1924

James Robert Ballensby
Margaret Emily Capstick

James Robert Battensby
Margaret Emily Capstick
💍 1924/4946

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

35
24

Papakura
Papakura

3 days
3 days

Residence of W. H. Watkinson, Papakura

6575

28 July 1924

Rev. W. C. Wood

No	18
Date of Notice	28 July 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Ballensby	Margaret Emily Capstick
BDM Match (95%)	James Robert Battensby	Margaret Emily Capstick
	💍 1924/4946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Watkinson, Papakura
Folio	6575
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood

2 August 1924

John Leslie Farnsworth
Evelyn Grace Currie

John Leslie Farnsworth
Evelyn Grace Comrie
💍 1924/4954

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

32
28

Papakura
Papakura

4 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Karaka

6576

2 August 1924

Rev. T. Coatsworth

No	19
Date of Notice	2 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Leslie Farnsworth	Evelyn Grace Currie
BDM Match (95%)	John Leslie Farnsworth	Evelyn Grace Comrie
	💍 1924/4954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Karaka
Folio	6576
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Coatsworth

9 August 1924

Edward Bentley Davies
Augusta Eana Hall

Edward Bentley Davies
Augusta Edna Hall
💍 1924/4965

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
29

Brookby
Were

4 years
14 years

Residence of Mr R. Hall, Were

6577

9 August 1924

Rev. P. H. Roseveare

No	20
Date of Notice	9 August 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bentley Davies	Augusta Eana Hall
BDM Match (97%)	Edward Bentley Davies	Augusta Edna Hall
	💍 1924/4965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Brookby	Were
Length of Residence	4 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Hall, Were
Folio	6577
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. H. Roseveare

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).