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 506

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar H. Hill

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

116

6 July 1921

Hemi Totoru Ratafu
Mate Te Uri

Hemi Totoru Ratapu
Mate or Mattie Te Uri
💍 1921/3224

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer Aboriginal Native of New Zealand
Domestic Aboriginal Native of New Zealand

20
18

Hangarua Matawai Poverty Bay
Manutuke Poverty Bay

2 years
5 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

6916

Wi Ratafu (Father) Herewine Te Uri (Father)

6 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	116
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hemi Totoru Ratafu	Mate Te Uri
BDM Match (73%)	Hemi Totoru Ratapu	Mate or Mattie Te Uri
	💍 1921/3224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer Aboriginal Native of New Zealand	Domestic Aboriginal Native of New Zealand
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Hangarua Matawai Poverty Bay	Manutuke Poverty Bay
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	6916
Consent	Wi Ratafu (Father) Herewine Te Uri (Father)
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

117

6 July 1921

Harold Robert Tullock
Maria Paton

Harold Robert Tullock
Maria Paton
💍 1921/3225

Widower 1.10.1921
Spinster

Farmer (Returned Soldier)
Lady help

46
33

Te Arai Poverty Bay
Te Arai

4 years
life

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

6917

6 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	117
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Robert Tullock	Maria Paton
	💍 1921/3225
Condition	Widower 1.10.1921	Spinster
Profession	Farmer (Returned Soldier)	Lady help
Age	46	33
Dwelling Place	Te Arai Poverty Bay	Te Arai
Length of Residence	4 years	life
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	6917
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

118

9 July 1921

Emanuel Roderick Jar
Edith Caroline Stevens

Emanuel Roderick
Edith Caroline Stevens
💍 1921/3226

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Cook

39
44

Gisborne
Gisborne

30 years
14 years

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

6918

9 July 1921

Rev Horace Packe Anglican Gisborne

No	118
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Roderick Jar	Edith Caroline Stevens
BDM Match (90%)	Emanuel Roderick	Edith Caroline Stevens
	💍 1921/3226
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Cook
Age	39	44
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	30 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	6918
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe Anglican Gisborne

119

11 July 1921

Holipa Kahuroa
Atareta Te Kawe

Hohipa Kahuroa
Atareta Te Kawe
💍 1921/3227

Bachelor
Widow 1887

Farmer Aboriginal Native of New Zealand
Domestic Native of New Zealand

70
60

Gisborne
Gisborne

40 years
18 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

6919

11 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	119
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Holipa Kahuroa	Atareta Te Kawe
BDM Match (96%)	Hohipa Kahuroa	Atareta Te Kawe
	💍 1921/3227
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 1887
Profession	Farmer Aboriginal Native of New Zealand	Domestic Native of New Zealand
Age	70	60
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	40 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	6919
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

120

12 July 1921

Arthur Ralston Wyllie
Mahalia Elizabeth King

Arthur Ralston Wyllie
Mahalia Elizabeth King
💍 1921/3229

Bachelor
Spinster

Royal Mail Taxi Driver
Domestic Servant

19
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

life
14 years

The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

6920

Alexander Ralston Wyllie (Father)

12 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	120
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Ralston Wyllie	Mahalia Elizabeth King
	💍 1921/3229
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Royal Mail Taxi Driver	Domestic Servant
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	life	14 years
Marriage Place	The office of The Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	6920
Consent	Alexander Ralston Wyllie (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

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).