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 505

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar H. Hill

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

111

2 July 1921

Andrew Olsen
Norah Higgins

Andrew Olsen
Norah Higgins
💍 1921/3219

Bachelor
Widow (13 May 1911)

Labourer
Domestic duties

57
59

Gisborne
Gisborne

13 years
7 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

6911

2 July 1921

Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic, Gisborne

No	111
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Olsen	Norah Higgins
	💍 1921/3219
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (13 May 1911)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	57	59
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	13 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	6911
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic, Gisborne

112

2 July 1921

John Norman Joseph Owen
Fanny Amelia Owen

John Norman Joseph
Fanny Amelia Owen
💍 1921/3220

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Home duties

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 months
Life

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

6912

John Michael Owen (Father)

2 July 1921

Rev Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

No	112
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norman Joseph Owen	Fanny Amelia Owen
BDM Match (89%)	John Norman Joseph	Fanny Amelia Owen
	💍 1921/3220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Home duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 months	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	6912
Consent	John Michael Owen (Father)
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Church of England, Gisborne

113

4 July 1921

William Cecil Hart
Eileen Margaret Newey

William Cecil Hart
Eileen Margaret Newey
💍 1921/3221

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Home duties

21
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

8 years
18 years

At the residence of the Bride's Parents, 205 Kahutia Street, Gisborne

6913

Frederick Montague Newey (Father)

4 July 1921

Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic, Gisborne

No	113
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Cecil Hart	Eileen Margaret Newey
	💍 1921/3221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Home duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	8 years	18 years
Marriage Place	At the residence of the Bride's Parents, 205 Kahutia Street, Gisborne
Folio	6913
Consent	Frederick Montague Newey (Father)
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Thomas Lane, Catholic, Gisborne

114

6 July 1921

Joachim George Sorensen
Margaret Simpson

Joachim George Sorensen
Margaret Simpson
💍 1921/3222

Widower (22/1/1916)
Spinster

Master Mariner
Domestic duties

44
35

Gisborne (Auckland)
Gisborne (Wairoa, Hawkes Bay)

4 days
7 days

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

6914

6 July 1921

Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian, Gisborne

No	114
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joachim George Sorensen	Margaret Simpson
	💍 1921/3222
Condition	Widower (22/1/1916)	Spinster
Profession	Master Mariner	Domestic duties
Age	44	35
Dwelling Place	Gisborne (Auckland)	Gisborne (Wairoa, Hawkes Bay)
Length of Residence	4 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	6914
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev James Aitken, Presbyterian, Gisborne

115

5 July 1921

Herbert Gee
Elsie May Sutcliffe

Herbert Lee
Elsie May Sutcliffe
💍 1921/3223

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

24
22

Gisborne
Gisborne

About 10 years
About 18 years

Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne

6915

5 July 1921

Rev Horace Packe, Anglican, Gisborne

No	115
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Gee	Elsie May Sutcliffe
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert Lee	Elsie May Sutcliffe
	💍 1921/3223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	About 10 years	About 18 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Gisborne
Folio	6915
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe, Anglican, Gisborne

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).