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 817

District of Opotiki Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar G. O. Stephenson

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

12 January 1921

John Henry Terrell Anderson
Ethel Eileen Bull

John Henry Terrill Anderson
Ethel Eileen Bull
💍 1921/9091

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
16

Waimana
Waimana

7 years
3 years

at the church of St Stephen the martyr Opotiki

1702

Henry Arthur Bull father

12 January 1921

J. H. Selmes, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Terrell Anderson	Ethel Eileen Bull
BDM Match (98%)	John Henry Terrill Anderson	Ethel Eileen Bull
	💍 1921/9091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Waimana	Waimana
Length of Residence	7 years	3 years
Marriage Place	at the church of St Stephen the martyr Opotiki
Folio	1702
Consent	Henry Arthur Bull father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Selmes, Church of England

15 January 1921

Charles Henry Anderson
Clara Ann Burtt

Charles Henry Anderson
Clara Ann Burtt
💍 1921/9092

Widower 7th September 1920
Widow 8th March 1920

Professor of music
Independent

68
55

Opotiki
Opotiki

10 years
3 days

at the residence of Mr J. J. Merry Opotiki

1703

15 January 1921

D. Hird, Presbyterian Church

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Anderson	Clara Ann Burtt
	💍 1921/9092
Condition	Widower 7th September 1920	Widow 8th March 1920
Profession	Professor of music	Independent
Age	68	55
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	10 years	3 days
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr J. J. Merry Opotiki
Folio	1703
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	D. Hird, Presbyterian Church

31 January 1921

Robson Anthony Hedley
Dorothy Edith Wales

Robson Anthony Hedley
Dorothy Edith Wales
💍 1921/9094

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
21

Opotiki
Opotiki

Since birth
7 years

at the church of St Stephen the martyr Opotiki

1704

31 January 1921

W. H. Foster, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robson Anthony Hedley	Dorothy Edith Wales
	💍 1921/9094
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	Since birth	7 years
Marriage Place	at the church of St Stephen the martyr Opotiki
Folio	1704
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. H. Foster, Church of England

3 February 1921

Donald Colin McDonald
Hilda Jane Pascoe

Donald Colin McDonald
Hilda Jane Pascoe
💍 1921/9095

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

25
23

Greymouth, Opotiki
Greymouth, Opotiki

7 days
2 months

at St Johns Presbyterian Church Opotiki

1705

3 February 1921

D. Hird, Presbyterian Church

No	4
Date of Notice	3 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Colin McDonald	Hilda Jane Pascoe
	💍 1921/9095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Greymouth, Opotiki	Greymouth, Opotiki
Length of Residence	7 days	2 months
Marriage Place	at St Johns Presbyterian Church Opotiki
Folio	1705
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1921
Officiating Minister	D. Hird, Presbyterian Church

10 February 1921

Alec John Lickfold
Phyllis May Emmett

Alec John Lickfold
Phyllis May Emmett
💍 1921/9096

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

22
20

Opotiki
Opotiki

5 years
20 years

at the residence of Mr G. D. Emmett Wellington St Opotiki

1706

George Dixon Emmett (Father)

10 February 1921

E. S. Chambers, Wesleyan Church

No	5
Date of Notice	10 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alec John Lickfold	Phyllis May Emmett
	💍 1921/9096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Opotiki	Opotiki
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr G. D. Emmett Wellington St Opotiki
Folio	1706
Consent	George Dixon Emmett (Father)
Date of Certificate	10 February 1921
Officiating Minister	E. S. Chambers, Wesleyan Church

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).