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 915

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar [illegible]

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

20 December 1921

James Callanan
Florence Saunders

James Callanan
Florence Saunders
💍 1921/5750

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
33

Rotorua
Rotorua

10 weeks
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

9647

20 December 1921

Rev. Dean Lightheart

No	52
Date of Notice	20 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Callanan	Florence Saunders
	💍 1921/5750
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	33
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	10 weeks	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	9647
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Lightheart

20 December 1921

John George Laughton
Horiana Te Kauru

John George Laughton
Horiana Te Kauru
💍 1921/5751

Widower 20th September 1917
Spinster

Maori Missionary
School Teacher

30
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

9648

20 December 1921

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	20 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John George Laughton	Horiana Te Kauru
	💍 1921/5751
Condition	Widower 20th September 1917	Spinster
Profession	Maori Missionary	School Teacher
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	9648
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

20 December 1921

George Smith Robb
Cecil Estel Carlin

George Smith Robb
Cecil Estel Carlin
💍 1921/5752

Divorced Decree Absolute 14th December 1921
Spinster

Motor Proprietor
Waitress

39
22

Rotorua
Rotorua

16 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

9649

20 December 1921

F. Mitchell, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	20 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Smith Robb	Cecil Estel Carlin
	💍 1921/5752
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 14th December 1921	Spinster
Profession	Motor Proprietor	Waitress
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	16 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	9649
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1921
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar

22 December 1921

James Taupo Brownlie
Elsie May Bailey

James Taupo Brownlie
Elsie May Bailey
💍 1921/5753

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

30
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

30 years
1 year

St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

9650

22 December 1921

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	22 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Taupo Brownlie	Elsie May Bailey
	💍 1921/5753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	9650
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

23 December 1921

Fox Maule Carnachan
Olive Edith Berry

Fox Maule Carnachan
Olive Edith Berry
💍 1921/5761

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

22
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

22 years
7 months

Central House, Pukualua Street, Rotorua

9651

23 December 1921

Rev. Archdeacon Chatterton, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	23 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fox Maule Carnachan	Olive Edith Berry
	💍 1921/5761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	22 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Central House, Pukualua Street, Rotorua
Folio	9651
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Archdeacon Chatterton, Church of England

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).