Intentions to Marry, 1925 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840529, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925b contains pages 461-924, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 501

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. 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

13 January 1925

Archibald Henry Irwin
Annie Mary Watkin

Archibald Henry Irwin
Annie Mary Watkin
💍 1925/892

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

29
27

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

3 days
5 years

Residence of A. E. Watkin, Pukekohe

1440

13 January 1925

Rev. G. MacRae

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Henry Irwin	Annie Mary Watkin
	💍 1925/892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of A. E. Watkin, Pukekohe
Folio	1440
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. MacRae

22 January 1925

Thomas Edward Herbert
Emily Annie Whittaker

Thomas Edward Herbert
Emily Annie Whittaker
💍 1925/893

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
19

Clevedon
Clevedon

3 months
5 months

Anglican Church, Clevedon

1441

Robert Whittaker, Father

22 January 1925

Rev. W. H. Rattray

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Edward Herbert	Emily Annie Whittaker
	💍 1925/893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Clevedon
Folio	1441
Consent	Robert Whittaker, Father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Rattray

22 January 1925

Harry Francis Kilduff
Barbara Leila Thompson

Harry Francis Kilduff
Barbara Leila Thompson
💍 1925/894

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Faultman
Domestic Duties

21
25

Newton
Manurewa

2 years
14 years

Methodist Church, Manurewa

1442

22 January 1925

Rev. J. W. Griffin

No	3
Date of Notice	22 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Francis Kilduff	Barbara Leila Thompson
	💍 1925/894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Faultman	Domestic Duties
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Newton	Manurewa
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manurewa
Folio	1442
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin

7 February 1925

Nathan Stewart Dalton
Margaret Jane McKay

Nathan Stewart Sutton
Margaret Jane McKay
💍 1925/895

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
23

Ararimu
Ararimu

43 years
6 years

The Manse, Pukekohe

1443

7 February 1925

Rev. S. Nixon

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nathan Stewart Dalton	Margaret Jane McKay
BDM Match (93%)	Nathan Stewart Sutton	Margaret Jane McKay
	💍 1925/895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	23
Dwelling Place	Ararimu	Ararimu
Length of Residence	43 years	6 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Pukekohe
Folio	1443
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Nixon

9 February 1925

Stanley Brown
Cecelia May Woodhouse

Stanley Brown
Cecelia May Woodhouse
💍 1925/896

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Household Duties

26
22

Whangarei
Papakura

10 years
10 years

Methodist Church, Papakura

1444

9 February 1925

Rev. J. W. Griffin

No	5
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Brown	Cecelia May Woodhouse
	💍 1925/896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Household Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Papakura
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Papakura
Folio	1444
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Griffin

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).