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 725

District of Matamata Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar S. Williams

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

19 July 1921

Alfred Alexander Cox
Olive Muriel Grayling

Alfred Alexander Cox
Olive Muriel Grayling
💍 1921/8448

Bachelor
Spinster

Sharemilker
Domestic

19
24

Ngarua
Te Poi

1 month
6 months

Residence of W. G. Grayling, Te Poi

7014

Alfred Alexander Cox, Farmer, Waikino, Father

19 July 1921

Rev. William E. Connolly, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	19 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Alexander Cox	Olive Muriel Grayling
	💍 1921/8448
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sharemilker	Domestic
Age	19	24
Dwelling Place	Ngarua	Te Poi
Length of Residence	1 month	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of W. G. Grayling, Te Poi
Folio	7014
Consent	Alfred Alexander Cox, Farmer, Waikino, Father
Date of Certificate	19 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. William E. Connolly, Church of England

27 August 1921

Foster John Hall
Alice May Davis

Foster John Hall
Alice May Davis
💍 1921/4791

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
23

Hinuera, Matamata
Hinuera

2 years 3 days
13 years

Roman Catholic Church, Matamata

8137

27 August 1921

Rev. John J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	27 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Foster John Hall	Alice May Davis
	💍 1921/4791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hinuera, Matamata	Hinuera
Length of Residence	2 years 3 days	13 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Matamata
Folio	8137
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

12 September 1921

Robert Patrick Skinner
Mary Ellen Main

Robert Patrick Skinner
Mary Ellen Main
💍 1921/4792

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

24
23

Waharoa
Waharoa

1 year
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Matamata

8138

12 September 1921

Rev. John J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	12 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Patrick Skinner	Mary Ellen Main
	💍 1921/4792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Waharoa	Waharoa
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Matamata
Folio	8138
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John J. Taylor, Roman Catholic

24 September 1921

Henry Corkill
Ella Elizabeth Mary Chadwick

Henry Corkill
Ella Elizabeth Mary Chadwick
💍 1921/8449

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

43
36

Walton
Aratapu

1 year
Lifetime

Methodist Church, Matamata

7015

24 September 1921

Rev. A. E. Jefferson, Methodist

No	11
Date of Notice	24 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Corkill	Ella Elizabeth Mary Chadwick
	💍 1921/8449
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Walton	Aratapu
Length of Residence	1 year	Lifetime
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Matamata
Folio	7015
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Jefferson, Methodist

24 September 1921

Thomas Rolleston
Annie Reweti Tewhena

Thomas Rolleston
Annie Reweti Tewhena
💍 1921/8450

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer, Railway
Domestic Duties

23
20

Matamata
Matamata

2 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Matamata

7016

Reweti Tewhena, Father of bride

24 September 1921

S. Williams, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	24 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Rolleston	Annie Reweti Tewhena
	💍 1921/8450
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer, Railway	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Matamata	Matamata
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Matamata
Folio	7016
Consent	Reweti Tewhena, Father of bride
Date of Certificate	24 September 1921
Officiating Minister	S. Williams, Registrar

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).