Intentions to Marry, 1926 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840537, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926b contains pages 471-946, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 507

District of Drury Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar 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

4 January 1926

William James Brooks
Jessie Thompson Appleby

William James Brooks
Jessie Thompson Appleby
💍 1926/3550

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

43
26

Drury
Drury

4 years
26 years

St Johns Church, Drury

2941

4 January 1926

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Brooks	Jessie Thompson Appleby
	💍 1926/3550
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	43	26
Dwelling Place	Drury	Drury
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Drury
Folio	2941
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

9 January 1926

Edward Collingson Crisp
Ellen Agnes Storey

Edward Collingson Crisp
Ellen Agnes Storey
💍 1926/1906

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

22
20

Papakura
Papakura

14 days
14 days

Residence of Mrs A. Crisp, Ardmore

1601

Edward Storey, Father

9 January 1926

Rev. G. H. Findlay, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Collingson Crisp	Ellen Agnes Storey
	💍 1926/1906
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	14 days	14 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs A. Crisp, Ardmore
Folio	1601
Consent	Edward Storey, Father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Findlay, Methodist

12 January 1926

William Arthur Boagey
Laura Annie Morgan

William Arthur Boagey
Laura Annie Morgan
💍 1926/1917

Widower (24/5/19)
Widow (28/10/22)

Stationer
Domestic

59
56

Papakura
Papakura

5 years
1 year 10 months

Dwelling of Bride, Papakura

1602

12 January 1926

Rev. G. H. Findlay, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Boagey	Laura Annie Morgan
	💍 1926/1917
Condition	Widower (24/5/19)	Widow (28/10/22)
Profession	Stationer	Domestic
Age	59	56
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year 10 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Bride, Papakura
Folio	1602
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Findlay, Methodist

16 January 1926

Ewen Duncan McLennan
Jessie Matheson Wilson

Ewen Duncan McLennan
Jessie Matheson Wilson
💍 1926/1924

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
23

Papakura
Papakura

23 years
13 years

Presbyterian Church, Papakura

1603

16 January 1926

Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	16 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ewen Duncan McLennan	Jessie Matheson Wilson
	💍 1926/1924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	23 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Papakura
Folio	1603
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. R. Greenwood, Presbyterian

20 January 1926

Joseph William St Paul
Ethel Plows

Joseph William St Paul
Ethel Plows
💍 1926/1925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
22

Clevedon
Clevedon

25 years
9 years

Residence of J. St Paul, Ardmore

1604

20 January 1926

Rev. W. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	20 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William St Paul	Ethel Plows
	💍 1926/1925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. St Paul, Ardmore
Folio	1604
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. McDonald, 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).