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 504

District of Drury Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. 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

1 May 1925

William James Bidick
Doris Eleanor McConnel

William James Biddick
Doris Eleanor McConnel
💍 1925/3020

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
18

Runciman
Ramarama

15 years
2 1/2 years

Methodist Church, Ramarama

3872

Rachel Louisa McConnel, mother

4 May 1925

Rev. J. Ramondson, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	1 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Bidick	Doris Eleanor McConnel
BDM Match (98%)	William James Biddick	Doris Eleanor McConnel
	💍 1925/3020
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Runciman	Ramarama
Length of Residence	15 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Ramarama
Folio	3872
Consent	Rachel Louisa McConnel, mother
Date of Certificate	4 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ramondson, Methodist

5 May 1925

Reginald Haydon Tucker
Constance Atkinson

Reginald Haydon Tucker
Constance Atkinson
💍 1925/3021

Bachelor
Spinster

Poultry Farmer
Domestic duties

34
29

Takanini
Takanini

1 1/2 years
4 years

Anglican Church, Papakura

3873

5 May 1925

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	5 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Haydon Tucker	Constance Atkinson
	💍 1925/3021
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Poultry Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	29
Dwelling Place	Takanini	Takanini
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Papakura
Folio	3873
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

12 May 1925

John Cornelius Finn
Mabel Louisa Smith

John Cornelius Finn
Mable Louisa Smith
💍 1925/5533

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
20

Clevedon South
Papakura

29 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Papakura

5329

Ambrose Smith, father

12 May 1925

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	12 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Cornelius Finn	Mabel Louisa Smith
BDM Match (94%)	John Cornelius Finn	Mable Louisa Smith
	💍 1925/5533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Clevedon South	Papakura
Length of Residence	29 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Papakura
Folio	5329
Consent	Ambrose Smith, father
Date of Certificate	12 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

26 May 1925

John Baldwin
Aileen Margretta Orr

John Baldwin
Aileen Margretta Orr
💍 1925/3022

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
23

Waerenga Valley
Manurewa

1 week
1 1/2 years

St Lukes Church, Manurewa

3874

26 May 1925

Rev. L. Foulkes, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Baldwin	Aileen Margretta Orr
	💍 1925/3022
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Waerenga Valley	Manurewa
Length of Residence	1 week	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Manurewa
Folio	3874
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. Foulkes, Church of England

26 May 1925

Alfred John Bossey
Jane Kilpatrick Bossey

Alfred John Cossey
Jane Kilpatrick Cossey
💍 1925/3023

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

45
41

Opaheke
Opaheke

23 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe

3875

26 May 1925

Rev. Samuel Nixon, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Bossey	Jane Kilpatrick Bossey
BDM Match (95%)	Alfred John Cossey	Jane Kilpatrick Cossey
	💍 1925/3023
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Opaheke	Opaheke
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe
Folio	3875
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Samuel 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).