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 617

District of Hikurangi Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. MacDonald

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

2 April 1925

Donald Sinclair
Sophia Maihi

Donald Sinclair
Sophia Maihi
💍 1925/4272

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 10th December 1924

Farmer
Domestic Duties

58
48

Whakapara
Whakapara

40 years
48 years

Registrars Office Hikurangi

3973

2 April 1925

Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Sinclair	Sophia Maihi
	💍 1925/4272
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 10th December 1924
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	58	48
Dwelling Place	Whakapara	Whakapara
Length of Residence	40 years	48 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hikurangi
Folio	3973
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

7 April 1925

Thomas Joseph O'Shea
Florence Little

Thomas Joseph O'Shea
Florence Little
💍 1925/4273

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

32
27

Hikurangi
Hikurangi

6 years
16 years

Residence of Rev. W. H. Holloway Hikurangi

3974

7 April 1925

Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph O'Shea	Florence Little
	💍 1925/4273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Hikurangi	Hikurangi
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. H. Holloway Hikurangi
Folio	3974
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

7 April 1925

William Donald Sinclair
Ethel Brown

William Donald Sinclair
Ethel Brown
💍 1925/4274

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic Duties

28
17

Whakapara
Whakapara

28 years
9 years

Residence of Rev. M. J. Byrt Whakapara

3975

James Brown, Father

7 April 1925

Rev. M. J. Byrt, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	7 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donald Sinclair	Ethel Brown
	💍 1925/4274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	17
Dwelling Place	Whakapara	Whakapara
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. M. J. Byrt Whakapara
Folio	3975
Consent	James Brown, Father
Date of Certificate	7 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Byrt, Presbyterian

27 April 1925

Charles Edward Stairmand
Christina Cairns Griffen

Charles Edward Stairmand
Christina Cairns Griffen
💍 1925/3106

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Stenographer

33
24

Wellington
Wellington

30 years
5 years

Residence of Rev. W. H. Holloway Hikurangi

3976

27 April 1925

Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	27 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Stairmand	Christina Cairns Griffen
	💍 1925/3106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Stenographer
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. H. Holloway Hikurangi
Folio	3976
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Holloway, Presbyterian

9 May 1925

Neho Rihari
Te Riu Pita Kino

Neho Rihari
Te Riu Pita Kino
💍 1925/3117

Bachelor
Widow 15th November 1918

Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
30

Whakapara
Whakapara

10 years
3 weeks

Registrars Office Hikurangi

3977

9 May 1925

Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	9 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neho Rihari	Te Riu Pita Kino
	💍 1925/3117
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 15th November 1918
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Whakapara	Whakapara
Length of Residence	10 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hikurangi
Folio	3977
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

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).