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 563

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar J. G. L. Hewitt

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

143

7 October 1921

George Valentine Thomas Friend
Myrtle Aileen Sycamore

George Valentine Thomas Friend
Myrtle Aileen Sycamore
💍 1921/10820

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

28
23

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 months
4 weeks

Methodist Church, Frankton Junction

9517

7 October 1921

Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

No	143
Date of Notice	7 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Valentine Thomas Friend	Myrtle Aileen Sycamore
	💍 1921/10820
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 months	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	9517
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. D. Patchett, Methodist

144

19 October 1921

Thomas Albert Gibson
Mary Boasa Allen

Thomas Albert Gibson
Mary Boasa Allen
💍 1921/10821

Bachelor
Widow (8 October 1920)

Storekeeper

30
30

Hamilton
Hamilton

1 year
1 year

Presbyterian Church, Frankton Junction

9518

19 October 1921

Rev. J. B. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	144
Date of Notice	19 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Albert Gibson	Mary Boasa Allen
	💍 1921/10821
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (8 October 1920)
Profession	Storekeeper
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	9518
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. B. Burrows, Presbyterian

145

20 October 1921

Harry Wintle
Helen Rebecca Knight

Harry Wintle
Helen Rebecca Knight
💍 1921/10823

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

28
26

Hamilton
Auckland

10 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church, Mt Albert, Auckland

9519

20 October 1921

Rev. R. Crocket, Presbyterian

No	145
Date of Notice	20 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Wintle	Helen Rebecca Knight
	💍 1921/10823
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mt Albert, Auckland
Folio	9519
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Crocket, Presbyterian

146

26 October 1921

William Thomas Luxton
Olive Mary Hinton

William Thomas Luxton
Olive Mary Hinton
💍 1921/10824

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
31

Eureka
Eureka

18 months
14 years

House of J. Hinton, Eureka

9520

26 October 1921

Rev. E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	146
Date of Notice	26 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Luxton	Olive Mary Hinton
	💍 1921/10824
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	31
Dwelling Place	Eureka	Eureka
Length of Residence	18 months	14 years
Marriage Place	House of J. Hinton, Eureka
Folio	9520
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. M. Cowie, Anglican

147

29 October 1921

William Archibald Hamilton McHaffie
Waiwae Badenia Germania Hodgkinson

William Archibald Hamilton McHaffie
Waiwae Badenia Germania Hodgkinson
💍 1921/10825

Bachelor
Spinster

Cashier

30
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church, Frankton Junction

9521

29 October 1921

Rev. J. B. Burrows, Presbyterian

No	147
Date of Notice	29 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Archibald Hamilton McHaffie	Waiwae Badenia Germania Hodgkinson
	💍 1921/10825
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cashier
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	9521
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 October 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).