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 866

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

3 February 1921

Thomas McClean
Dorothy Matuushka

Thomas McClean
Dorothy Matuschka
💍 1921/9115

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

34
24

Pukekohe
Mauku

3 years
8 years

Methodist Church Pukekohe

1726

8 February 1921

Rev J Olphert, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	3 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McClean	Dorothy Matuushka
BDM Match (94%)	Thomas McClean	Dorothy Matuschka
	💍 1921/9115
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Mauku
Length of Residence	3 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Pukekohe
Folio	1726
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J Olphert, Methodist

8 February 1921

Alfred Donald Sears
Josephine Chittenden

Alfred Donald Sears
Josephine Chittenden
💍 1921/9116

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Clerk

28
25

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

2 years
3 weeks

Church of England Pukekohe

1727

8 February 1921

Rev J P Cowie, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Donald Sears	Josephine Chittenden
	💍 1921/9116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Clerk
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	2 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Pukekohe
Folio	1727
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J P Cowie, Church of England

9 February 1921

William Gordon Mobberley
Hettie Burton

William Gordon Nobberley
Hettie Burton
💍 1921/9118

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman Porter
Domestic duties

21
18

Pukekohe
Paerata

1 month
1 month

Church of England Pukekohe

1728

Alfred George Burton, Father

9 February 1921

Rev J P Cowie, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon Mobberley	Hettie Burton
BDM Match (98%)	William Gordon Nobberley	Hettie Burton
	💍 1921/9118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman Porter	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Paerata
Length of Residence	1 month	1 month
Marriage Place	Church of England Pukekohe
Folio	1728
Consent	Alfred George Burton, Father
Date of Certificate	9 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J P Cowie, Church of England

11 February 1921

Sydney Darby
Greta Jane Bere

Sydney Darby
Greta Jane Bere
💍 1921/9119

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

30
28

Raglan
Bombay

5 months
5 weeks

at the residence of Mr H. L. Darby, Bombay

1729

11 February 1921

Rev. A. N. Costain, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Darby	Greta Jane Bere
	💍 1921/9119
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Raglan	Bombay
Length of Residence	5 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	at the residence of Mr H. L. Darby, Bombay
Folio	1729
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. N. Costain, Methodist

22 February 1921

William Arthur Edge
Jessie Emma Brockelsby

William Arthur Edge
Jessie Emma Brockelsby
💍 1921/9120

Widower 12.3.1920
Spinster

Engine Fitter
Domestic duties

35
22

Pukekohe
Pukekohe

9 months
3 years

Church of England Pukekohe

1730

22 February 1921

Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Edge	Jessie Emma Brockelsby
	💍 1921/9120
Condition	Widower 12.3.1920	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter	Domestic duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Pukekohe	Pukekohe
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Pukekohe
Folio	1730
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. P. Cowie, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).