Intentions to Marry, 1921 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840498, 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.

1921c contains pages 885-1316, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 901

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar Frank Mitchell

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 January 1921

Joseph Edward Eric Brothers
Jean Morton Brisbane Simpson

Joseph Edward Eric Brothers
Jean Morton Brisbane Simpson
💍 1921/9133

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

22
27

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 years
6 days

Residence of Mr B.A. Brothers Tutanekai St. Rotorua

1744

13 January 1921

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Edward Eric Brothers	Jean Morton Brisbane Simpson
	💍 1921/9133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 years	6 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr B.A. Brothers Tutanekai St. Rotorua
Folio	1744
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

24 January 1921

Geoffrey Denzil Mallaby Goodwin
Mildred Hewett

Geoffrey Denzil Mallaby Goodwin
Mildred Hewett
💍 1921/9134

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
25

Rotorua
Rotorua

18 months
2 1/2 years

St Lukes Church of England Rotorua

1745

24 January 1921

Rev. Canon Chatterton, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffrey Denzil Mallaby Goodwin	Mildred Hewett
	💍 1921/9134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	18 months	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church of England Rotorua
Folio	1745
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Chatterton, Church of England

24 January 1921

William Yandle
Blanche McKewan

William Yandle
Blanche McKewan
💍 1921/9135

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree Absolute 10/12/20)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
43

Mamaku
Putaruru

Registrar's Office Rotorua

1746

24 January 1921

Frank Mitchell, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Yandle	Blanche McKewan
	💍 1921/9135
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree Absolute 10/12/20)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Mamaku	Putaruru
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	1746
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Frank Mitchell, Registrar

1 February 1921

Cyril Lionel Wright
Kathleen Mary Webster

Cyril Lionel Wright
Kathleen Mary Webster
💍 1921/9136

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman
Domestic Duties

24
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
4 years

Presbyterian Church Rotorua

1747

1 February 1921

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Lionel Wright	Kathleen Mary Webster
	💍 1921/9136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Rotorua
Folio	1747
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

1 February 1921

John Henry Hodgson
Winifred Morrison

John Henry Hodgson
Winifred Morrison
💍 1921/9137

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Nurse

28
21

Hamilton
Te Puke

20 years
19 years

Registrar's Office Rotorua

1748

1 February 1921

Frank Mitchell, Registrar

No	5
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Hodgson	Winifred Morrison
	💍 1921/9137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Nurse
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Te Puke
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	1748
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Frank Mitchell, Registrar

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).