Intentions to Marry, 1925 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840530, 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.

1925c contains pages 925-1356, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1168

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar E. P. Ramsey

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

21 November 1925

Harry Edward Hoare Wilkinson
Florence Melburn

Harry Edward Hoare Wilkinson
Florence McMinn
💍 1925/9390

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Shop assistant

22
21

Kamo
Whangarei

18 years
4 years

Residence of Mr. Nunn, Bank Street, Whangarei

9528

21 November 1925

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	96
Date of Notice	21 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Edward Hoare Wilkinson	Florence Melburn
BDM Match (84%)	Harry Edward Hoare Wilkinson	Florence McMinn
	💍 1925/9390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Shop assistant
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Whangarei
Length of Residence	18 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Nunn, Bank Street, Whangarei
Folio	9528
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

7 December 1925

John Henry Dixon
May Thompson Melville

John Henry Dixon
May Thompson Melville
💍 1925/9391

Bachelor
Widow (30 June 1919)

Farmer
Domestic

50
50

Okaihau
Okaihau

all life
all life

Methodist Parsonage, Whangarei

9529

7 December 1925

Rev. J. R. B. Woollass, Methodist

No	97
Date of Notice	7 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Dixon	May Thompson Melville
	💍 1925/9391
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (30 June 1919)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	50	50
Dwelling Place	Okaihau	Okaihau
Length of Residence	all life	all life
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Whangarei
Folio	9529
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. B. Woollass, Methodist

7 December 1925

Walter Louis Gashang
Rowlynda Elliott

Walter Louis Castaing
Rowlynda Elliott
💍 1925/9392

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Typiste

21
25

Auckland
Kamo

2 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Kamo

9530

7 December 1925

Rev. W. H. Halloway, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	7 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Louis Gashang	Rowlynda Elliott
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Louis Castaing	Rowlynda Elliott
	💍 1925/9392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Typiste
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Kamo
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kamo
Folio	9530
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Halloway, Presbyterian

8 December 1925

Francis Joseph Lockwood
Jessie Balder

Francis Joseph Lockwood
Jessie Calder
💍 1925/9393

Bachelor
Divorced (13 November 1925)

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
23

Hukerenui
Whangarei

5 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Finlayson, Manse Street, Whangarei

9531

8 December 1925

Rev. Geo. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	99
Date of Notice	8 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Joseph Lockwood	Jessie Balder
BDM Match (96%)	Francis Joseph Lockwood	Jessie Calder
	💍 1925/9393
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (13 November 1925)
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hukerenui	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Finlayson, Manse Street, Whangarei
Folio	9531
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

100

10 December 1925

John Raymond Mudgway
Annie Rosa Beeston

John Raymond Mudgway
Annie Rose Beeston
💍 1925/9394

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic

19
16

Whangarei
Whangarei

19 months
16 years

Residence of Mr. Beeston, Whangarei

9532

Mudgway father, Victor Beeston father

10 December 1925

Rev. Geo. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	100
Date of Notice	10 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Raymond Mudgway	Annie Rosa Beeston
BDM Match (97%)	John Raymond Mudgway	Annie Rose Beeston
	💍 1925/9394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic
Age	19	16
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	19 months	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Beeston, Whangarei
Folio	9532
Consent	Mudgway father, Victor Beeston father
Date of Certificate	10 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. W. Lochore, 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).