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 461

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar J. G. Williams

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

George William Thornton
Eva Harriet Baldwin

George William Thornton
Eva Harriet Baldskin
💍 1921/8944

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
21

Rukuhuria
Dargaville

3 months
3 months

Residence of Mrs E Baldwin Dargaville

1548

3 January 1921

Rev H M Smyth Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Thornton	Eva Harriet Baldwin
BDM Match (95%)	George William Thornton	Eva Harriet Baldskin
	💍 1921/8944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Rukuhuria	Dargaville
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs E Baldwin Dargaville
Folio	1548
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H M Smyth Church of England

14 January 1921

George Breese
Rose Anna Laying

George Breese
Rose Anna Sayring
💍 1921/8945

Bachelor
Widow (16 October 1915)

Millhand
Domestic duties

30
50

Dargaville
Dargaville

10 years
25 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dargaville

1549

14 January 1921

J. G. Williams Deputy Registrar Dargaville

No	2
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Breese	Rose Anna Laying
BDM Match (94%)	George Breese	Rose Anna Sayring
	💍 1921/8945
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (16 October 1915)
Profession	Millhand	Domestic duties
Age	30	50
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	10 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Dargaville
Folio	1549
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. G. Williams Deputy Registrar Dargaville

25 January 1921

Harold Edwards Barron
Annie Goulding

Harold Edwards Barron
Annie Goulding
💍 1921/8946

Bachelor
Widow (15 September 1917)

Surfaceman
Domestic duties

23
23

Dargaville
Dargaville

6 months
1 year

Church of England Dargaville

1550

25 January 1921

Rev H M Smyth Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Edwards Barron	Annie Goulding
	💍 1921/8946
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (15 September 1917)
Profession	Surfaceman	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	6 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	1550
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H M Smyth Church of England

4 February 1921

Arnold William Adams
Lillian Millicent Blanchard

Arnold William Adams
Lillian Milicent Blanchard
💍 1921/8947

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
23

Aranga
Aranga

26 years
7 days

Church of England Dargaville

1551

4 February 1921

Rev H M Smyth Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	4 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold William Adams	Lillian Millicent Blanchard
BDM Match (98%)	Arnold William Adams	Lillian Milicent Blanchard
	💍 1921/8947
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Aranga	Aranga
Length of Residence	26 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	1551
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H M Smyth Church of England

16 February 1921

Arthur James Thompson
Amy Rose McKay

Arthur James Thompson
Amy Rose McKay
💍 1921/10926

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Schoolmistress

21
22

Maropiu
Maropiu

1 day
2 months

Church of England Dargaville

1552

16 February 1921

Rev H M Smyth Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	16 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Thompson	Amy Rose McKay
	💍 1921/10926
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Schoolmistress
Age	21	22
Dwelling Place	Maropiu	Maropiu
Length of Residence	1 day	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Dargaville
Folio	1552
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H M Smyth Church of England

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).