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 558

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar Ferguson

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

126

25 August 1921

Charles Henry Warneford
Violet Mary Steel

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet Maker

23
26

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

6 years
12 years

St George's Church, Frankton Junction

8174

25 August 1921

Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	126
Date of Notice	25 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Warneford	Violet Mary Steel
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet Maker
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	8174
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

127

30 August 1921

Allan John Ferguson
Sybil Kathleen Douglas

Allan John Ferguson
Sybil Kathleen Douglas
💍 1921/4812

Widower 8:11:1919
Spinster

Farmer

31
20

Otorohanga
Hamilton

12 months
6 years

St George's Church, Frankton Junction

8134

Frederick William Arthur Douglas, Father

30 August 1921

Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	127
Date of Notice	30 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan John Ferguson	Sybil Kathleen Douglas
	💍 1921/4812
Condition	Widower 8:11:1919	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Hamilton
Length of Residence	12 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Frankton Junction
Folio	8134
Consent	Frederick William Arthur Douglas, Father
Date of Certificate	30 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

128

1 September 1921

Alexander Beange
Margaret Annie Chapman

Alexander Beange
Margaret Annie Chapman
💍 1921/8437

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

27
24

Hamilton
Auckland

5 years
1 week

St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church, Auckland

6979

1 September 1921

Rev W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

No	128
Date of Notice	1 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Beange	Margaret Annie Chapman
	💍 1921/8437
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Auckland
Length of Residence	5 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St Benedict's Roman Catholic Church, Auckland
Folio	6979
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. J. Murphy, Roman Catholic

129

1 September 1921

Stephen Roy Keogh
Amy Isabelle Pram

Stephen Roy Keogh
Amy Isabella Pram
💍 1921/4813

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman

24
22

Hamilton
Hamilton

12 months
1 month

St Peter's Church, Hamilton

8135

1 September 1921

Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	129
Date of Notice	1 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Roy Keogh	Amy Isabelle Pram
BDM Match (97%)	Stephen Roy Keogh	Amy Isabella Pram
	💍 1921/4813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	12 months	1 month
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Hamilton
Folio	8135
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

130

2 September 1921

Reginald William Taylor
Eileen Leah Shaw

Reginald William Taylor
Leah Eileen Shaw
💍 1921/4830

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

25
23

Hamilton
Hamilton

10 years
9 years

St Peter's Church, Hamilton

8175

2 September 1921

Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	130
Date of Notice	2 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald William Taylor	Eileen Leah Shaw
BDM Match (69%)	Reginald William Taylor	Leah Eileen Shaw
	💍 1921/4830
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	10 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Hamilton
Folio	8175
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev E. M. Cowie, Anglican

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).