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 951

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar D. W. McIntosh

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

15 July 1921

Albert Leslie Smith
Enid Lucy Sharplin

Albert Leslie Smith
Enid Lucy Sharplin
💍 1921/3273

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk Railway
Domestic Duties

33
19

Whakamarama Tauranga
Whakamarama Tauranga

6 days
8 years

residence of Henry Havelock Sharplin Whakamarama

7089

Henry Havelock Sharplin Father

15 July 1921

Rev E. A. McCutcheon Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Leslie Smith	Enid Lucy Sharplin
	💍 1921/3273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk Railway	Domestic Duties
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Whakamarama Tauranga	Whakamarama Tauranga
Length of Residence	6 days	8 years
Marriage Place	residence of Henry Havelock Sharplin Whakamarama
Folio	7089
Consent	Henry Havelock Sharplin Father
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev E. A. McCutcheon Church of England

22 July 1921

James Hamilton Alison
Agnes Young Scott

James Hamilton Alison
Agnes Young Scott
💍 1921/3274

Bachelor
Spinster

farmer
Domestic Duties

30
30

Tauranga
Tauranga

2 days
6 years

Dwelling of Thomas Torrance Scott at Lower Kaimai Tauranga

7090

22 July 1921

Rev J W Smyth Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	22 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hamilton Alison	Agnes Young Scott
	💍 1921/3274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	2 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Torrance Scott at Lower Kaimai Tauranga
Folio	7090
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J W Smyth Presbyterian

29 July 1921

Arnold Henfrey Watson
Christine Vingoe

Arnold Henfrey Watson
Christine Vingoe
💍 1921/3275

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
34

Pongakawa
Tauranga

9 years
3 days

Holy Trinity Church Tauranga

7091

29 July 1921

Rev J. W. Chapman Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arnold Henfrey Watson	Christine Vingoe
	💍 1921/3275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	34
Dwelling Place	Pongakawa	Tauranga
Length of Residence	9 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Tauranga
Folio	7091
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. W. Chapman Church of England

6 August 1921

Charles Alexander Youngson
Jane Youngson McAdam

Charles Alexander Youngson
Jane Youngson McAdam
💍 1921/3276

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Typist

30
34

Otumoetai Tauranga
Otumoetai Tauranga

18 years
1 year

Presbyterian Church Tauranga

7092

6 August 1921

Rev J W Smyth Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	6 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Alexander Youngson	Jane Youngson McAdam
	💍 1921/3276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Typist
Age	30	34
Dwelling Place	Otumoetai Tauranga	Otumoetai Tauranga
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tauranga
Folio	7092
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J W Smyth Presbyterian

9 August 1921

Charles Ernest Thoms
Annie Gibbon

Charles Ernest Thoms
Annie Gibbon
💍 1921/3277

Widower 10th March 1920
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
35

Otumoetai Tauranga
Otumoetai Tauranga

14 months
16 months

Dwelling of Thomas Gibbon situated at Otumoetai Tauranga

7093

9 August 1921

Rev J W Smyth Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	9 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Thoms	Annie Gibbon
	💍 1921/3277
Condition	Widower 10th March 1920	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	35
Dwelling Place	Otumoetai Tauranga	Otumoetai Tauranga
Length of Residence	14 months	16 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Gibbon situated at Otumoetai Tauranga
Folio	7093
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J W Smyth 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).