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 502

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar Geo. 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

13 June 1921

Richard St. George Hoerner
Ellen Agnes Ovenden

Richard St George Herivel
Ellen Agnes Ovenden
💍 1921/10529

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant Post and Telegraph Department
Civil Servant Post and Telegraph Department

25
19

Gisborne
Gisborne

life
life

Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne

4300

Frederick Bohn Ovenden (Father)

13 June 1921

Rev Horace Packe Anglican

No	98
Date of Notice	13 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard St. George Hoerner	Ellen Agnes Ovenden
BDM Match (90%)	Richard St George Herivel	Ellen Agnes Ovenden
	💍 1921/10529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant Post and Telegraph Department	Civil Servant Post and Telegraph Department
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	life	life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England Gisborne
Folio	4300
Consent	Frederick Bohn Ovenden (Father)
Date of Certificate	13 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Horace Packe Anglican

8 June 1921

Douglas Hope Foram
Alice Foster

Douglas Hope Faram
Alice Foster
💍 1921/10363

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

33
31

Gisborne
Gisborne

life
20 years

Methodist Church Bright Street Gisborne

4301

8 June 1921

Rev Edwin Thomas Cox Methodist Minister Gisborne

No	99
Date of Notice	8 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Hope Foram	Alice Foster
BDM Match (97%)	Douglas Hope Faram	Alice Foster
	💍 1921/10363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	life	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Bright Street Gisborne
Folio	4301
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Edwin Thomas Cox Methodist Minister Gisborne

100

10 June 1921

Francis Cecil Eales
Ethel Mary Vincent

Francis Cecil Eales
Ethel Mary Vincent
💍 1921/10374

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Domestic Servant

37
30

Whatatutu
Gisborne

7 years
4 years

The Presbyterian Church Ormond Poverty Bay

4302

10 June 1921

Rev A. Macdonald Aspland Presbyterian Church Ormond

No	100
Date of Notice	10 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Cecil Eales	Ethel Mary Vincent
	💍 1921/10374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Domestic Servant
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Whatatutu	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	4 years
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Church Ormond Poverty Bay
Folio	4302
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Macdonald Aspland Presbyterian Church Ormond

101

9 June 1921

Robert Henry Smith
Dorothy Ivy Barbara Buckingham

Robert Henry Smith
Dorothy Ivy Barbara Buckingham
💍 1921/10381

Divorced Decree absolute dated 18th September 1919
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
18

Te Karaka Poverty Bay
Te Karaka

11 years
10 years

The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

4303

Arthur Edwin Buckingham (Father)

9 June 1921

Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

No	101
Date of Notice	9 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Smith	Dorothy Ivy Barbara Buckingham
	💍 1921/10381
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute dated 18th September 1919	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Te Karaka Poverty Bay	Te Karaka
Length of Residence	11 years	10 years
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages Gisborne
Folio	4303
Consent	Arthur Edwin Buckingham (Father)
Date of Certificate	9 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages Gisborne

102

11 June 1921

Robert Elder Stewart
Maude Brooking

Robert Elder Stewart
Maude Brooking
💍 1921/10382

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

28
22

Whangamomona Taranaki
Otoko

1 day
4 months

The residence of Mr Roope Brooking Kaitoa Otoko

4304

11 June 1921

Rev Alan Edgar Hunt Anglican Matawai

No	102
Date of Notice	11 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Elder Stewart	Maude Brooking
	💍 1921/10382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Whangamomona Taranaki	Otoko
Length of Residence	1 day	4 months
Marriage Place	The residence of Mr Roope Brooking Kaitoa Otoko
Folio	4304
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Alan Edgar Hunt Anglican Matawai

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).