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 629

District of Kaitaia Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar A. O. Bateman

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

6 January 1921

Francis McPherson
Rebecca Pene Arano

Francis McPherson
Rebecca Pene Arano
💍 1921/9080

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

43
33

Ahipara
Ahipara

16 years
33 years

Church of England, Kaitaia

1666

6 January 1921

Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis McPherson	Rebecca Pene Arano
	💍 1921/9080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	43	33
Dwelling Place	Ahipara	Ahipara
Length of Residence	16 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaitaia
Folio	1666
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

24 January 1921

Arthur Edmund Steed
Mary Jane Subritzky

Arthur Edmund Steed
Mary Jane Subritzky
💍 1921/9081

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
23

Waiharara
Awanui

1 year
2 years

Church of England, Kaitaia

1667

24 January 1921

Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edmund Steed	Mary Jane Subritzky
	💍 1921/9081
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Waiharara	Awanui
Length of Residence	1 year	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaitaia
Folio	1667
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

24 January 1921

Edwin Hipworth
Leila Heighway

Edwin Hipworth
Leila Peace Heighway
💍 1921/9058

Bachelor
Spinster

Gum Buyer
Domestic Duties

44
22

Waipapakauri
Waipapakauri

6 years
3 weeks

Residence of Brides Sister, Waipapakauri

1668

24 January 1921

Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Hipworth	Leila Heighway
BDM Match (85%)	Edwin Hipworth	Leila Peace Heighway
	💍 1921/9058
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gum Buyer	Domestic Duties
Age	44	22
Dwelling Place	Waipapakauri	Waipapakauri
Length of Residence	6 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Sister, Waipapakauri
Folio	1668
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

23 February 1921

James Valentine Beazley
Ethel Lilian Kitchen

James Valentine Beazley
Ethel Lilian Kitchen
💍 1921/9059

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic Duties

23
27

Takahue
Victoria Valley

2 years
1 year

Victoria Valley Hall, Victoria Valley

1669

23 February 1921

Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Valentine Beazley	Ethel Lilian Kitchen
	💍 1921/9059
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic Duties
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Takahue	Victoria Valley
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Victoria Valley Hall, Victoria Valley
Folio	1669
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

12 March 1921

William Henry John Woodall
Ida Dorothy Matthews

William Henry John Woodall
Ida Dorothy Matthews
💍 1921/9060

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

29
22

Kaitaia
Kaitaia

8 months
22 years

Church of England, Kaitaia

1670

12 March 1921

Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	12 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry John Woodall	Ida Dorothy Matthews
	💍 1921/9060
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Kaitaia	Kaitaia
Length of Residence	8 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kaitaia
Folio	1670
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Drake, Church of England

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).