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 773

District of Matamata Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar Leonard Flower

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

10 November 1926

Sidney George Smith
Beatrice Emily McAuley

Sidney George Smith
Beatrice Emily McAuley
💍 1926/8337

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic duties

22
16

Matamata
Matamata

1 year
7 days

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

9573

Emily Anne McAuley, mother

10 November 1926

Leonard Flower, Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

No	16
Date of Notice	10 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney George Smith	Beatrice Emily McAuley
	💍 1926/8337
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic duties
Age	22	16
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	1 year	7 days
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Matamata
Folio	9573
Consent	Emily Anne McAuley, mother
Date of Certificate	10 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Leonard Flower, Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

11 November 1926

Thomas Douglas Gray
Ethel Isabel Munro

Thomas Douglas Gray
Ethel Isabel Munro
💍 1926/8338

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

21
19

Matamata
Matamata

4 months
6 months

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

9574

Thomas Hurrey Munro, father

11 November 1926

Leonard Flower, Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

No	17
Date of Notice	11 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Douglas Gray	Ethel Isabel Munro
	💍 1926/8338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	4 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Matamata
Folio	9574
Consent	Thomas Hurrey Munro, father
Date of Certificate	11 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Leonard Flower, Registrar of Marriages, Matamata

10 December 1926

Norman Dawson Wallace
Annie Kathleen Johnston

Norman Dawson Wallace
Annie Kathleen Johnston
💍 1926/8339

Bachelor
Spinster

Garage Manager
Domestic duties

33
24

Matamata
Matamata

7 years
20 years

St. Andrew Church, Matamata

9575

10 December 1926

Rev. A. C. Hampton, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	10 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Dawson Wallace	Annie Kathleen Johnston
	💍 1926/8339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Garage Manager	Domestic duties
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew Church, Matamata
Folio	9575
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Hampton, Presbyterian

14 December 1926

Clifford Scatcherd
Gretta May Robina Gunn

Clifford Scatchard
Gretta May Robina Gunn
💍 1926/9466

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Waharoa
Waharoa

4 years
7 years

Residence of G. R. Gunn, Waharoa

10748

14 December 1926

Rev. A. C. Hampton, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	14 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Scatcherd	Gretta May Robina Gunn
BDM Match (97%)	Clifford Scatchard	Gretta May Robina Gunn
	💍 1926/9466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Waharoa	Waharoa
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. R. Gunn, Waharoa
Folio	10748
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Hampton, Presbyterian

17 December 1926

John Stuart Soull
Christina Farmer Fagan

John Stuart Doull
Christina Farmer Fagan
💍 1927/141

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Music Teacher

46
46

Waharoa
Matamata

15 years
15 years

St. Andrew Church, Matamata

17 December 1926

Rev. A. C. Hampton, Presbyterian

No	20
Date of Notice	17 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stuart Soull	Christina Farmer Fagan
BDM Match (97%)	John Stuart Doull	Christina Farmer Fagan
	💍 1927/141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Music Teacher
Age	46	46
Dwelling Place	Waharoa	Matamata
Length of Residence	15 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew Church, Matamata
Folio	89
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Hampton, 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).