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 473

District of Drury Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar M. G. Grundy

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

5 April 1921

Oscar Douglas MacFarlane
Hannah Mary Waters

Oscar Douglas McFarlane
Hannah Mary Waters
💍 1921/7386

Bachelor
Spinster

Sailor
Domestic

29
29

Papakura
Papakura

14 days
4 months

Residence of Bridegroom's Parents Papakura

5769

5 April 1921

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	5 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oscar Douglas MacFarlane	Hannah Mary Waters
BDM Match (98%)	Oscar Douglas McFarlane	Hannah Mary Waters
	💍 1921/7386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sailor	Domestic
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	14 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Bridegroom's Parents Papakura
Folio	5769
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

14 April 1921

Frank Richard Weston
Laura Margaret Stenning

Frank Richard Waston
Laura Margaret Stanning
💍 1921/1879

Bachelor
Spinster

Trainer
Domestic duties

43
37

Auckland
Runciman

43 years
37 years

Residence of F. Stenning Runciman

4252

14 April 1921

Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Richard Weston	Laura Margaret Stenning
BDM Match (95%)	Frank Richard Waston	Laura Margaret Stanning
	💍 1921/1879
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Trainer	Domestic duties
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Runciman
Length of Residence	43 years	37 years
Marriage Place	Residence of F. Stenning Runciman
Folio	4252
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. A. Calder, Church of England

2 May 1921

Albert Sydney Charles Snowden
Ada Hayter

Albert Sydney Charles Snowden
Ada Hayter
💍 1921/7388

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

34
33

Papakura
Papakura

3 days
3 days

Church of England Papakura

5770

2 May 1921

Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Sydney Charles Snowden	Ada Hayter
	💍 1921/7388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	34	33
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Papakura
Folio	5770
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. C. Wood, Church of England

17 May 1921

John Atchison McPherson
Gladys May Fawcett

John Atchison McPherson
Gladys May Fawcett
💍 1921/1884

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
24

Clevedon
Clevedon

14 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church Clevedon

4253

17 May 1921

Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	17 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Atchison McPherson	Gladys May Fawcett
	💍 1921/1884
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Clevedon	Clevedon
Length of Residence	14 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Clevedon
Folio	4253
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

24 June 1921

John Reynolds
Freda Barker

John Reynolds
Freda Baker
💍 1921/1885

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

26
21

Papakura
Papakura

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office Papakura

4254

24 June 1921

Deputy Registrar of Marriages for Drury

No	8
Date of Notice	24 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Reynolds	Freda Barker
BDM Match (96%)	John Reynolds	Freda Baker
	💍 1921/1885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Papakura	Papakura
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Papakura
Folio	4254
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar of Marriages for Drury

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).