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 538

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar A. W. Newton

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

7 February 1921

Patrick Bolton
Norah Plunkett

Patrick Bolton
Norah Plunkett
💍 1921/9050

Widower 13 November 1918
Spinster

Labourer

45
26

Hamilton
Hamilton

25 years
6 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton

1635

7 February 1921

M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Bolton	Norah Plunkett
	💍 1921/9050
Condition	Widower 13 November 1918	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	45	26
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	25 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hamilton
Folio	1635
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	M. J. Bleakley, Roman Catholic

15 February 1921

Walter Augustus Pelham Baker
Myrtle Kelly

Walter Augustus Pelham Baker
Myrtle Kelly
💍 1921/9051

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman

19
17

Hamilton
Hamilton East

8 months
6 months

Methodist Church, Hamilton East

1636

Eleanor Michie, mother of groom; Marion Bathgate Kelly, mother of bride

15 February 1921

E. T. Olds, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Augustus Pelham Baker	Myrtle Kelly
	💍 1921/9051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton East
Length of Residence	8 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hamilton East
Folio	1636
Consent	Eleanor Michie, mother of groom; Marion Bathgate Kelly, mother of bride
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	E. T. Olds, Methodist

18 February 1921

John Norman McArthur
Catherine Brooks

John Norman McArthur
Catherine Brooks
💍 1921/9052

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver

30
32

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

6 months
3 weeks

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

1637

18 February 1921

E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	18 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norman McArthur	Catherine Brooks
	💍 1921/9052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	6 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	1637
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1921
Officiating Minister	E. M. Cowie, Anglican

22 February 1921

Leslie Alfred Beal
Elsie Marion Jemmett

Leslie Alfred Beal
Elsie Marion Jemmett
💍 1921/10929

Bachelor
Spinster

Railwayman

28
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
7 years

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

1638

22 February 1921

E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	29
Date of Notice	22 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Alfred Beal	Elsie Marion Jemmett
	💍 1921/10929
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railwayman
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	1638
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 February 1921
Officiating Minister	E. M. Cowie, Anglican

28 February 1921

Leslie Norman Tisch
Elizabeth Proudfoot Fullarton

Leslie Norman Tisch
Elizabeth Proudfoot Fullarton
💍 1921/9053

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Builder

26
23

Hamilton
Claudelands

10 years
7 days

St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Claudelands

1639

28 February 1921

Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Norman Tisch	Elizabeth Proudfoot Fullarton
	💍 1921/9053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Builder
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Claudelands
Length of Residence	10 years	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Claudelands
Folio	1639
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie, 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).