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 845

District of Ohinemuri Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar R. Ward

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 April 1926

Maurice Richard Patrick White
Vivian Olive Mowbray Adams

Maurice Richard Patrick White
Vivian Olive Mowbray Adams
💍 1926/4378

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
34

Paeroa
Paeroa

6 months
14 months

Registrar's Office Paeroa

4448

1 April 1926

W. Ward, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	1 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Maurice Richard Patrick White	Vivian Olive Mowbray Adams
	💍 1926/4378
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	34
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	6 months	14 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Paeroa
Folio	4448
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1926
Officiating Minister	W. Ward, Registrar

16 April 1926

Stanley John Hedge
Margaret McKenzie Fleming

Stanley John Hedge
Margaret McKenzie Fleming
💍 1926/4379

Bachelor
Spinster

Chemist and druggist
Domestic Duties

29
23

Paeroa
Paeroa

4 1/2 years
4 1/2 years

Presbyterian Church Paeroa

4449

16 April 1926

Rev. Josiah A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	16 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley John Hedge	Margaret McKenzie Fleming
	💍 1926/4379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Chemist and druggist	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	4 1/2 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Paeroa
Folio	4449
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Josiah A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

21 May 1926

Ernest Bertram Williams
Dulcie Madeline Johnson

Ernest Bertram Williams
Dulcie Madeline Johnson
💍 1926/4380

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
19

Netherton
Netherton

6 years
19 years

St Pauls Anglican Church Paeroa

4450

Florence Rachel Matilda Johnson, mother

21 May 1926

Rev. Richard L. Connolly, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	21 May 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Bertram Williams	Dulcie Madeline Johnson
	💍 1926/4380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Netherton	Netherton
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Anglican Church Paeroa
Folio	4450
Consent	Florence Rachel Matilda Johnson, mother
Date of Certificate	21 May 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Richard L. Connolly, Anglican

26 June 1926

John William Steer
Amelia Mary Ann Taylor

John William Steer
Amelia Mary Ann Taylor
💍 1926/9801

Bachelor
Spinster

Dredge hand
Domestic Duties

34
19

Paeroa
Paeroa

4 months
11 months

Dwelling of Leonard Corbett Taylor, Netherton Road Paeroa

4451

Leonard Corbett Taylor, father

26 June 1926

Rev. John Lowden, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	26 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Steer	Amelia Mary Ann Taylor
	💍 1926/9801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dredge hand	Domestic Duties
Age	34	19
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	4 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Leonard Corbett Taylor, Netherton Road Paeroa
Folio	4451
Consent	Leonard Corbett Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	26 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lowden, Presbyterian

26 June 1926

Clarence Lewon Corbett Taylor
Margaret Olive Heffernan

Clarence Lewon Corbett-Taylor
Margaret Olive Heffernan
💍 1926/9812

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

20
21

Paeroa
Paeroa

1 year
2 months

Dwelling of Leonard Corbett Taylor, Netherton Road Paeroa

4452

Leonard Corbett Taylor, father

26 June 1926

Rev. John Lowden, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	26 June 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Lewon Corbett Taylor	Margaret Olive Heffernan
BDM Match (98%)	Clarence Lewon Corbett-Taylor	Margaret Olive Heffernan
	💍 1926/9812
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Paeroa	Paeroa
Length of Residence	1 year	2 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Leonard Corbett Taylor, Netherton Road Paeroa
Folio	4452
Consent	Leonard Corbett Taylor, father
Date of Certificate	26 June 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Lowden, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).