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 503

District of Drury Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar Roche

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

4 April 1925

Harry Maximilian King
Emma Florence Freshney

Harry Maximilian King
Emma Florence Freshney
💍 1925/3015

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

41
30

Manurewa
Manurewa

6 years
30 years

Methodist Church, Manurewa

3868

4 April 1925

Rev. G. B. Hinton, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	4 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Maximilian King	Emma Florence Freshney
	💍 1925/3015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	41	30
Dwelling Place	Manurewa	Manurewa
Length of Residence	6 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manurewa
Folio	3868
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Hinton, Methodist

6 April 1925

Robert Harold McConnel
Elizabeth Dorothy Woollen

Robert Harold McConnel
Elizabeth Dorothy Wootten
💍 1925/3016

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

25
25

Auckland
Rama Rama

1 year
6 years

Methodist Church, Manurewa

3869

6 April 1925

Rev. J. H. Edmondson, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Harold McConnel	Elizabeth Dorothy Woollen
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Harold McConnel	Elizabeth Dorothy Wootten
	💍 1925/3016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Rama Rama
Length of Residence	1 year	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manurewa
Folio	3869
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Edmondson, Methodist

8 April 1925

Luke Adams
Mary Winstanley Hills

Luke Adams
Mary Winstanley Hills
💍 1925/3018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
19

Pukekohe
Papakura

24 years
5 years

Christ Church, Papakura

3870

Hilary John Hills, Father

8 April 1925

Rev. W. B. Wood, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Luke Adams	Mary Winstanley Hills
	💍 1925/3018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Papakura
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Papakura
Folio	3870
Consent	Hilary John Hills, Father
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Wood, Church of England

14 April 1925

Arthur Joseph Ridd
Elizabeth Homewood

Arthur Joseph Rudd
Elizabeth Homewood
💍 1925/3019

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

40
30

Rama Rama
Rama Rama

3 days
9 years

Office of Registrar, Papakura

3871

14 April 1925

R. G. May, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Joseph Ridd	Elizabeth Homewood
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur Joseph Rudd	Elizabeth Homewood
	💍 1925/3019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Rama Rama	Rama Rama
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Papakura
Folio	3871
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	R. G. May, Registrar

17 April 1925

Llewelyn Douglas Mills
Ona Frances Jephson

Lewelyn Douglas Mills
Ona Francis Jephson
💍 1925/5526

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmilling
Domestic Duties

22
22

Papakura
Papakura

22 years
6 years

Church of England, Papakura

5328

17 April 1925

W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	17 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewelyn Douglas Mills	Ona Frances Jephson
BDM Match (95%)	Lewelyn Douglas Mills	Ona Francis Jephson
	💍 1925/5526
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmilling	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Papakura
Folio	5328
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. C. Wood, 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).

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).