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 897

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar F. R. Dansey

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

23 January 1925

John Mill
Muriel Annie Wootten

John Mill
Muriel Annie Wootten
💍 1925/1048

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
30

Bombay
Bombay

5 years
Life

Methodist Church, Bombay

1595

23 January 1925

J. H. Edmondson, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	23 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Mill	Muriel Annie Wootten
	💍 1925/1048
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Bombay	Bombay
Length of Residence	5 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Bombay
Folio	1595
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. H. Edmondson, Methodist

23 January 1925

Walter Bullock
Edna May Edwards

Walter Bullock
Edna May Edwards Wright
💍 1925/1049

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
19

Buckland
Buckland

8 years
19 years

Church of England, Buckland

1596

Robert Freer Wright, Father

23 January 1925

J. P. Cowie, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Bullock	Edna May Edwards
BDM Match (85%)	Walter Bullock	Edna May Edwards Wright
	💍 1925/1049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Buckland	Buckland
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Buckland
Folio	1596
Consent	Robert Freer Wright, Father
Date of Certificate	23 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. P. Cowie, Church of England

10 February 1925

Henry Arthur Corbett
Maggie Ella McNicoll

Henry Arthur Corbett
Maggie Ella McNicoll
💍 1925/1050

Widower (27 August 1923)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

47
36

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

7 years
1 month

Residence of J. K. McNeill, Pukekohe

1597

10 February 1925

Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	10 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Arthur Corbett	Maggie Ella McNicoll
	💍 1925/1050
Condition	Widower (27 August 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	7 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Residence of J. K. McNeill, Pukekohe
Folio	1597
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Thomas Coatsworth, Methodist

16 February 1925

William Leslie Bell
Clare Dudley Smales

William Leslie Bell
Clare Dudley Smales
💍 1925/1051

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic duties

27
21

Cambridge
Pukekohe

3 days
4 days

Church of England, Pukekohe

1598

16 February 1925

J. P. Cowie, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	16 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Bell	Clare Dudley Smales
	💍 1925/1051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukekohe
Folio	1598
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. P. Cowie, Church of England

20 February 1925

James Alfred Sparks
Marguerite Whyte Anderson MacPherson

James Alfred Sparks
Marguerite Whyte Anderson MacPherson
💍 1925/1052

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic duties

27
31

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

1 day
2 months

Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe

1599

20 February 1925

S. Nixon, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	20 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Sparks	Marguerite Whyte Anderson MacPherson
	💍 1925/1052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	27	31
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe
Folio	1599
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 February 1925
Officiating Minister	S. Nixon, 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).