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 478

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar F. Morrish

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

27 May 1924

Ivan Marko Erceg
Annie Aspden

Ivan Marko Erceg
Annie Aspden
💍 1924/1945

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

33 years
32 years

Dargaville
Dargaville

12 years
2 years

Roman Catholic Church, Dargaville

3882

27 May 1924

Rev. Stephen O'Callaghan, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	27 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Marko Erceg	Annie Aspden
	💍 1924/1945
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	33 years	32 years
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dargaville
Folio	3882
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Stephen O'Callaghan, Roman Catholic

26 May 1924

Samuel Forsaith Logan
Elaine May Harding

Samuel Forsaith Logan
Elaine May Harding
💍 1924/1946

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30 years
24 years

Nakotai
Dargaville

5 years
24 years

Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville

3883

26 May 1924

Rev. H. A. Johnson, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	26 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Forsaith Logan	Elaine May Harding
	💍 1924/1946
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Nakotai	Dargaville
Length of Residence	5 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Dargaville
Folio	3883
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. A. Johnson, Church of England

2 June 1924

George Francis Sheehan
Maria Gertrude Book

George Francis Sheehan
Maria Gertrude Pook
💍 1924/1923

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

24 years
21 years

Omana
Omana

9 months
9 months

Private residence, Mrs Gertrude Margaretta Book, Normanby Street, Dargaville

3884

Mrs Gertrude Margaretta Book

2 June 1924

Rev. J. Spierings, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	2 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Francis Sheehan	Maria Gertrude Book
BDM Match (97%)	George Francis Sheehan	Maria Gertrude Pook
	💍 1924/1923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	24 years	21 years
Dwelling Place	Omana	Omana
Length of Residence	9 months	9 months
Marriage Place	Private residence, Mrs Gertrude Margaretta Book, Normanby Street, Dargaville
Folio	3884
Consent	Mrs Gertrude Margaretta Book
Date of Certificate	2 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Spierings, Roman Catholic

4 June 1924

Stanley Berridge
Ida Marchbanks

Stanley Berridge
Ida Marchbanks
💍 1924/1924

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager Dairying Factory
Clerk

35 years
27 years

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

6 years
27 years

Private residence of Mr Joseph Marchbanks, Mangawhare

3885

4 June 1924

Rev. J. Spierings, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	4 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Berridge	Ida Marchbanks
	💍 1924/1924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager Dairying Factory	Clerk
Age	35 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	6 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mr Joseph Marchbanks, Mangawhare
Folio	3885
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Spierings, Roman Catholic

7 June 1924

Alfred Franklin Cates
Doris Mary Clements

Alfred Franklin Cates
Doris Mary Clements
💍 1924/1925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

38 years
19 years

Dargaville
Dargaville

22 years
19 years

Methodist Church, Mangawhare

3886

Robert Ernest Clements, father

7 June 1924

Rev. William A. Watson, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	7 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Franklin Cates	Doris Mary Clements
	💍 1924/1925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	38 years	19 years
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	22 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mangawhare
Folio	3886
Consent	Robert Ernest Clements, father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. William A. Watson, Methodist

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).