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 867

District of Pukekohe Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. Waters

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

23 February 1921

Herbert Jones Woodbridge
Evelyn Lucy Adams

Herbert Jones Woodbridge
Evelyn Lucy Adams
💍 1921/9121

Herbert James Brown
Evelyn Annie Adams
💍 1921/1771

Widower 25.11.1918
Spinster

Builder
Tailoress

32
25

Tuakau
Pukekohe

13 years
25 years

Church of England, Pukekohe

1731

23 February 1921

Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

No	11
Date of Notice	23 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Jones Woodbridge	Evelyn Lucy Adams
	💍 1921/9121
BDM Match (63%)	Herbert James Brown	Evelyn Annie Adams
	💍 1921/1771
Condition	Widower 25.11.1918	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Tailoress
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Tuakau	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	13 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pukekohe
Folio	1731
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

2 March 1921

Ernest Owen Pollock
Norah Fitness

Ernest Overn Pollock
Norah Fitness
💍 1921/9122

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
28

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

34 years
8 months

The residence of Mr William Fitness, Pukekohe

1732

2 March 1921

Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	2 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Owen Pollock	Norah Fitness
BDM Match (95%)	Ernest Overn Pollock	Norah Fitness
	💍 1921/9122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	34 years	8 months
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr William Fitness, Pukekohe
Folio	1732
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

8 March 1921

Thomas Ruddle Thomson
Rhoda Mary Waldron

Thomas Ruddle Thomson
Rhoda Mary Waldron
💍 1921/9123

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

31
20

Onewhero
Onewhero

1 year
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Tuakau

1733

Walter Waldron, Father

8 March 1921

Rev. W. F. Nichol, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Ruddle Thomson	Rhoda Mary Waldron
	💍 1921/9123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Onewhero	Onewhero
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Tuakau
Folio	1733
Consent	Walter Waldron, Father
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Nichol, Presbyterian

11 March 1921

George John Narbey
Naomi Noel Penrhys-Evans

George John Narbey
Naomi Noel Penrhys-Evans
💍 1921/9131

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

23
25

Bombay
Bombay

1 day
25 years

St Peters Church, Bombay

1734

11 March 1921

Rev. C. Vaughan, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George John Narbey	Naomi Noel Penrhys-Evans
	💍 1921/9131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Bombay	Bombay
Length of Residence	1 day	25 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Bombay
Folio	1734
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Vaughan, Church of England

11 March 1921

Frank Henry Hewitt
Ada Elizabeth Jenkins

Frank Henry Hewitt
Ada Elizabeth Jenkins
💍 1921/9142

Bachelor
Spinster

Reporter
Domestic duties

24
21

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

3 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe

1735

11 March 1921

Rev. S. Nixon, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henry Hewitt	Ada Elizabeth Jenkins
	💍 1921/9142
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Reporter	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Pukekohe
Folio	1735
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Nixon, 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).