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 557

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar Ferguson

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

121

19 August 1921

Ernest Herbert Gibson
Christine Honeybun

Ernest Herbert Gibson
Christine Honeybun
💍 1921/8409

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser & Tobacconist

32
29

Hamilton
Hamilton

5 months
26 years

Presbyterian Church Hamilton East

6974

19 August 1921

Rev R Mackie, Presbyterian

No	121
Date of Notice	19 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Herbert Gibson	Christine Honeybun
	💍 1921/8409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser & Tobacconist
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	5 months	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hamilton East
Folio	6974
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R Mackie, Presbyterian

122

19 August 1921

Charles Edmund Scott
Margaret Munford

Charles Edmund Scott
Margaret Mumford
💍 1921/8410

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

30
18

Hamilton
Hamilton

10 months
8 months

Presbyterian Manse Piako Street Hamilton

6975

Jane Cronin formerly Munford Mother

19 August 1921

Rev R Mackie, Presbyterian

No	122
Date of Notice	19 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edmund Scott	Margaret Munford
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Edmund Scott	Margaret Mumford
	💍 1921/8410
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	10 months	8 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Piako Street Hamilton
Folio	6975
Consent	Jane Cronin formerly Munford Mother
Date of Certificate	19 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R Mackie, Presbyterian

123

19 August 1921

William Alding
Annie Julia Smith

William Alding
Annie Julia Smith
💍 1921/8418

Bachelor
Divorced (Degree absolute 16:8:1921)

Mill Manager

32
33

Hamilton
Raurimu

3 days
12 months

Registrar's Office Hamilton

6976

19 August 1921

Registrar

No	123
Date of Notice	19 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alding	Annie Julia Smith
	💍 1921/8418
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Degree absolute 16:8:1921)
Profession	Mill Manager
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Raurimu
Length of Residence	3 days	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hamilton
Folio	6976
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar

124

23 August 1921

James Shale
Anastasia Ryan

James Shale
Anastasia Ryan
💍 1921/8429

Widower (1:12:1919)
Widow (8:3:1920)

Stationer

46
29

Hamilton
Hamilton

9 years
9 months

Roman Catholic Church Hamilton

6977

23 August 1921

Rev M J Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	124
Date of Notice	23 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Shale	Anastasia Ryan
	💍 1921/8429
Condition	Widower (1:12:1919)	Widow (8:3:1920)
Profession	Stationer
Age	46	29
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	9 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hamilton
Folio	6977
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev M J Bleakley, Roman Catholic

125

25 August 1921

Charles Edward McDonald
Ruby Nina Taylor

Charles Edward McDonald
Ruby Nina Taylor
💍 1921/8436

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

40
32

Otorohanga
Hamilton

1 year
3 years

Presbyterian Church Frankton Junction

6978

25 August 1921

Rev J B Burrows, Presbyterian

No	125
Date of Notice	25 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward McDonald	Ruby Nina Taylor
	💍 1921/8436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	40	32
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Hamilton
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Frankton Junction
Folio	6978
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J B Burrows, Presbyterian

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).