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 793

District of Morrinsville Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar [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

28 January 1925

Llewellyn Charles Wooderson
Joyce Wamsley Barlow

Llewellyn Charles Wooderson
Joyce Wamsley Barlow
💍 1925/1017

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharemilker
Domestic Duties

26
24

Kiwitahi
Motumaoho

3 years
10 years

Beauchamp, Barlow's residence, Motumaoho

1565

28 January 1925

Rev. F. Latter, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	28 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Llewellyn Charles Wooderson	Joyce Wamsley Barlow
	💍 1925/1017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharemilker	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Kiwitahi	Motumaoho
Length of Residence	3 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Beauchamp, Barlow's residence, Motumaoho
Folio	1565
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Latter, Anglican

14 February 1925

John Edward Bell
Muriel Victoria Grigg

John Edward Bell
Muriel Victoria Grigg
💍 1925/1018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

4 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville

1566

14 February 1925

Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	14 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward Bell	Muriel Victoria Grigg
	💍 1925/1018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Morrinsville
Folio	1566
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

21 February 1925

Leslie Oscar Mason
Helen Louisa Jenkins

Leslie Oscar Mason
Helen Louisa Jenkins
💍 1925/1019

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

25
21

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

1 day
5 years

Church of England, Morrinsville

1567

21 February 1925

Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Oscar Mason	Helen Louisa Jenkins
	💍 1925/1019
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	1 day	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Morrinsville
Folio	1567
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Kempthorne, Anglican

21 February 1925

Henry Whitten
Maude Elizabeth Nield

Henry Whitten
Maude Elizabeth Nield
💍 1925/1020

Bachelor
Spinster

Train examiner New Zealand Railways
Domestic Duties

33
40

Morrinsville
Morrinsville

2 years
3 years

George Mareing's dwelling, Railway yard, Morrinsville

1568

21 February 1925

Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Whitten	Maude Elizabeth Nield
	💍 1925/1020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Train examiner New Zealand Railways	Domestic Duties
Age	33	40
Dwelling Place	Morrinsville	Morrinsville
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	George Mareing's dwelling, Railway yard, Morrinsville
Folio	1568
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

10 March 1925

Sidney Octavius Harris
Winifred Mary Ferguson

Sidney Octavious Harris
Winifred Mary Ferguson
💍 1925/1021

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmhand
Domestic Duties

22
19

Kereone
Motumaoho

2 years
11 years

Residence of Samuel Andrew Ferguson (father), Motumaoho

1569

Samuel Andrew Ferguson, father

10 March 1925

Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	10 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Octavius Harris	Winifred Mary Ferguson
BDM Match (98%)	Sidney Octavious Harris	Winifred Mary Ferguson
	💍 1925/1021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmhand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Kereone	Motumaoho
Length of Residence	2 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Samuel Andrew Ferguson (father), Motumaoho
Folio	1569
Consent	Samuel Andrew Ferguson, father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Richards, Presbyterian

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).