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 615

District of Helensville Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar A. M. Robertson

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

Geoffrey Kyle Flynn
Endlyn Jessie Shanks

Geoffrey Kyle Flynn
Evelyn Jessie Shanks
💍 1926/2976

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

28
21

Matakana
Kaukapakapa

28 years
21 years

Residence of Mr Roy Kinloch, Kaukapakapa

1712

14 January 1926

Rev. N. O. White, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Kyle Flynn	Endlyn Jessie Shanks
BDM Match (95%)	Geoffrey Kyle Flynn	Evelyn Jessie Shanks
	💍 1926/2976
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Matakana	Kaukapakapa
Length of Residence	28 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Roy Kinloch, Kaukapakapa
Folio	1712
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. N. O. White, Presbyterian

8 February 1926

Leslie James Melanghey
Jane Ann Mildred Challis

Leslie James McGaughey
Jane Ann Mildred Challis
💍 1926/2977

Bachelor
Spinster

Skilled Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
21

Helensville
Helensville

4 days
4 days

Office of Registrar, Helensville

1713

8 February 1926

A. M. Robertson, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie James Melanghey	Jane Ann Mildred Challis
BDM Match (93%)	Leslie James McGaughey	Jane Ann Mildred Challis
	💍 1926/2977
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Skilled Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Helensville	Helensville
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Helensville
Folio	1713
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	A. M. Robertson, Registrar

19 February 1926

William Henry Bullen
Helena Florence Baker

William Henry Bullen
Helena Florence Baker
💍 1926/2978

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
24

Kaukapakapa
Kaukapakapa

3 weeks
3 weeks

Methodist Church, Kaukapakapa

1714

19 February 1926

Rev. W. H. Wilson, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	19 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Bullen	Helena Florence Baker
	💍 1926/2978
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Kaukapakapa	Kaukapakapa
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Kaukapakapa
Folio	1714
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Wilson, Methodist

15 March 1926

Rolf Peter Gardner
Ivy Louise Littin

Rolf Peter Gardner
Ivy Louise Littin
💍 1926/2979

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
23

Glorit
Tauhoa

23 years
22 years

Victoria Hall, Tauhoa

1715

18 March 1926

Rev. Wilfred Henry Wilson, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	15 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rolf Peter Gardner	Ivy Louise Littin
	💍 1926/2979
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Glorit	Tauhoa
Length of Residence	23 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Victoria Hall, Tauhoa
Folio	1715
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wilfred Henry Wilson, Methodist

22 March 1926

Herbert Roy Sneed
Annie Lydia Hooper

Herbert Roy Smeed
Annie Lydia Hooper
💍 1926/2980

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

27
23

Matakana
Matakana

4 days
23 years

Residence of Bride's Father, Matakana

1716

22 March 1926

Rev. William Henry Wilson, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	22 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Roy Sneed	Annie Lydia Hooper
BDM Match (97%)	Herbert Roy Smeed	Annie Lydia Hooper
	💍 1926/2980
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Matakana	Matakana
Length of Residence	4 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Father, Matakana
Folio	1716
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Henry Wilson, Methodist

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).