Intentions to Marry, 1921 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840497, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1921 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.

1921b contains pages 433-884, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 441

District of Cambridge Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. J. Lewis

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

3 January 1921

Arthur Cyril Rees
Kate Winifred Wells

Arthur Cyril Rees
Kate Winifred Wells
💍 1921/8935

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic

38
38

Cambridge
Cambridge

4 days
35 years

St Andrews Church Cambridge

1539

3 January 1921

Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Cyril Rees	Kate Winifred Wells
	💍 1921/8935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic
Age	38	38
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	4 days	35 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church Cambridge
Folio	1539
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mortimer Jones, Anglican

17 January 1921

Albert James Dobbs
Katie Allen McIvor

Albert James Dobbs
Kate Ellen McIvor
💍 1921/8936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Dressmaker

21
18

Cambridge
Cambridge

11 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church Cambridge

1540

Albert James Dobbs

17 January 1921

Rev. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian Church

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert James Dobbs	Katie Allen McIvor
BDM Match (94%)	Albert James Dobbs	Kate Ellen McIvor
	💍 1921/8936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Dressmaker
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	11 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Cambridge
Folio	1540
Consent	Albert James Dobbs
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian Church

29 January 1921

Percy Arthur Everett
Mary Elizabeth Bennett

Percy Arthur Everett
Mary Elizabeth Bennett
💍 1921/8937

Bachelor
Spinster

Vulcanizer
Nurse

23
24

Cambridge
Cambridge

18 months
4 days

Presbyterian Church Cambridge

1541

29 January 1921

Rev. W. Irvine, Presbyterian Church Cambridge

No	3
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Arthur Everett	Mary Elizabeth Bennett
	💍 1921/8937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vulcanizer	Nurse
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	18 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Cambridge
Folio	1541
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Irvine, Presbyterian Church Cambridge

2 February 1921

Thomas Henry Hall
Stella Sarah Hill

Thomas Henry Hall
Stella Sarah Hill
💍 1921/8938

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic

25
24

Cambridge
Cambridge

18 months
4 years

Methodist Church Cambridge

1542

2 February 1921

Rev. J. D. McArthur, Methodist Church

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Hall	Stella Sarah Hill
	💍 1921/8938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Cambridge
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Cambridge
Folio	1542
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. McArthur, Methodist Church

23 February 1921

Harold Waldemar Scow
Lillias Gourlay Burns

Harold Valdemar Scow
Lillias Gourlay Burns
💍 1921/8939

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory manager
Domestic

31
20

Hautapu
Fencourt

6 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church Cambridge

1543

George Burns

23 February 1921

Rev. T. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian Church

No	5
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Waldemar Scow	Lillias Gourlay Burns
BDM Match (98%)	Harold Valdemar Scow	Lillias Gourlay Burns
	💍 1921/8939
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory manager	Domestic
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Hautapu	Fencourt
Length of Residence	6 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Cambridge
Folio	1543
Consent	George Burns
Date of Certificate	23 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. H. Roseveare, Presbyterian Church

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).