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 467

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar A. Mercer

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

6 July 1921

Ernest Joseph Pennarden
Annie Cherle

Ernest Joseph Penwarden
Annie Eberle
💍 1921/3228

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
30

Raupo
Dargaville

3 years
4 days

Roman Catholic Church, Maungawhare

6902

6 July 1921

Rev G W Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Joseph Pennarden	Annie Cherle
BDM Match (90%)	Ernest Joseph Penwarden	Annie Eberle
	💍 1921/3228
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Raupo	Dargaville
Length of Residence	3 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Maungawhare
Folio	6902
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

26 July 1921

James Norman Hannam
Clara Catherine Cossill

James Norman Harrison
Clara Catherine Cossill
💍 1921/3235

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic duties

22
23

Dargaville
Tangiteroria

6 days
Life

Church of England, Tangiteroria

6903

26 July 1921

Rev H A Johnson, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Norman Hannam	Clara Catherine Cossill
BDM Match (86%)	James Norman Harrison	Clara Catherine Cossill
	💍 1921/3235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Tangiteroria
Length of Residence	6 days	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Tangiteroria
Folio	6903
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H A Johnson, Church of England

6 August 1921

Carl Jorgen Rasmussen
Violet Jane Malam

Carl Jorgen Rasmussen
Violet Jane Malam
💍 1921/3236

Bachelor
Spinster

Exchange attendant
Domestic duties

24
21

Dargaville
Dargaville

Life
9 years

Church of England, Dargaville

6904

6 August 1921

Rev H A Johnson, Church of England

No	27
Date of Notice	6 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Carl Jorgen Rasmussen	Violet Jane Malam
	💍 1921/3236
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Exchange attendant	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	Life	9 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Dargaville
Folio	6904
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H A Johnson, Church of England

3 September 1921

Joseph Bell
Violet Genter

Joseph Bell
Violet Fenton
💍 1921/3237

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic duties

23
20

Dargaville
Dargaville

2 years
4 years

Residence of F Bell, Dargaville

6905

Alonzo Genter, Father

3 September 1921

Rev W B Black, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	3 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Bell	Violet Genter
BDM Match (88%)	Joseph Bell	Violet Fenton
	💍 1921/3237
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F Bell, Dargaville
Folio	6905
Consent	Alonzo Genter, Father
Date of Certificate	3 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W B Black, Presbyterian

9 September 1921

Ormond Leslie Clouston Sumner
Vera Marguerite Kensington

Ormond Leslie Clouston Dunnet
Vera Marguerite Kensington
💍 1921/4828

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk Public Works Department
Telephone Exchange attendant

25
24

Whangarei
Dargaville

2 months
10 years

Church of England, Dargaville

8173

9 September 1921

Rev H A Johnson, Church of England

No	29
Date of Notice	9 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ormond Leslie Clouston Sumner	Vera Marguerite Kensington
BDM Match (95%)	Ormond Leslie Clouston Dunnet	Vera Marguerite Kensington
	💍 1921/4828
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk Public Works Department	Telephone Exchange attendant
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Dargaville
Length of Residence	2 months	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Dargaville
Folio	8173
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H A Johnson, 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).