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 539

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar A. W. Newton

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

1 March 1921

Herbert Tonks
Violetta Helen Jones

Herbert Tonks
Violetta Helen Jones
💍 1921/9054

Bachelor
Divorced Decree absolute 25 March 1920

Bushman

39
26

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

2 years
3 years

Baptist Church, Hamilton

1640

1 March 1921

H. G. Hercus, Baptist

No	31
Date of Notice	1 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Tonks	Violetta Helen Jones
	💍 1921/9054
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced Decree absolute 25 March 1920
Profession	Bushman
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hamilton
Folio	1640
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Hercus, Baptist

9 March 1921

Gilbert John Mackie
Dorothy Helen Patterson

Gilbert John Mackie
Dorothy Helen Paterson
💍 1921/9055

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier

30
30

Hamilton
Hamilton

11 months
6 months

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hamilton

1641

9 March 1921

Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	9 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert John Mackie	Dorothy Helen Patterson
BDM Match (98%)	Gilbert John Mackie	Dorothy Helen Paterson
	💍 1921/9055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	11 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hamilton
Folio	1641
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

14 March 1921

John Richard Cleland Cherrie
Myrtle Helen May Wills

John Richard Cleland Cherrie
Myrtle Helen May Wills
💍 1921/9056

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic

20
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

2 years
1 year

Baptist Church, Hamilton

1642

John Cleland Cherrie, Father

14 March 1921

H. G. Hercus, Baptist

No	33
Date of Notice	14 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Richard Cleland Cherrie	Myrtle Helen May Wills
	💍 1921/9056
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hamilton
Folio	1642
Consent	John Cleland Cherrie, Father
Date of Certificate	14 March 1921
Officiating Minister	H. G. Hercus, Baptist

15 March 1921

George Johnston
Clarice Ivy Hooper

George Johnston
Clarice Ivy Hooper
💍 1921/9033

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

25
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 days
8 years

St. Pauls Methodist Church, Hamilton

1643

15 March 1921

E. O. Blamires, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Johnston	Clarice Ivy Hooper
	💍 1921/9033
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 days	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Methodist Church, Hamilton
Folio	1643
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	E. O. Blamires, Methodist

15 March 1921

Robert Charles Gordon Russell
Beatrice Laura Clarke

Robert Charles Gordon Russell
Beatrice Laura Clarke
💍 1921/9034

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
27

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

7 days
3 months

Methodist Church, Frankton Junction

1644

15 March 1921

E. T. Olds, Methodist

No	35
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Charles Gordon Russell	Beatrice Laura Clarke
	💍 1921/9034
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	7 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	1644
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	E. T. Olds, Methodist

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).