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 1003

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

4 January 1921

John Stewart Wilcox
Gladys Christina Jamieson

John Stewart Wilcox
Gladys Christina Jamieson
💍 1921/9189

Bachelor
Spinster

School teacher
Home duties

29
23

Tapu
Tapu

18 months
5 months

Royal Oak Hotel, Tapu

1800

4 January 1921

A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Stewart Wilcox	Gladys Christina Jamieson
	💍 1921/9189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School teacher	Home duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Tapu	Tapu
Length of Residence	18 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Royal Oak Hotel, Tapu
Folio	1800
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	A. J. Beck, Church of England

5 January 1921

Eric George Johnson
Maud Ruby Nursey

Eric George Johnson
Maud Ruby Nursey
💍 1921/1127

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

21
21

Turua
Turua

21 years
4 months

Office of Registrar, Thames

1801

5 January 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric George Johnson	Maud Ruby Nursey
	💍 1921/1127
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	21 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar, Thames
Folio	1801
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

5 January 1921

Lewis Stevenson James
Clarice Alma Heape

Lewis Stevenson James
Clarice Alma Heape
💍 1921/1138

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Kapuarahi
Turua

5 years
10 years

St. Andrews Church, Turua

1802

Elizabeth Matilda Heape, Mother

5 January 1921

Rev. Dobson, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Stevenson James	Clarice Alma Heape
	💍 1921/1138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Kapuarahi	Turua
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Turua
Folio	1802
Consent	Elizabeth Matilda Heape, Mother
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dobson, Church of England

8 January 1921

James Mitchell
Elsie Florence Black

James Mitchell
Elsie Florence Black
💍 1921/2228

James Mitchell
Elsie Florence Black
💍 1921/10404

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric Motor Attendant
Drapery Saleswoman

27
27

Lichfield
Thames

1 week
2 months

Methodist Church, Thames

2924

8 January 1921

Rev. Mitchell, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	8 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Mitchell	Elsie Florence Black
	💍 1921/2228
	💍 1921/10404
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric Motor Attendant	Drapery Saleswoman
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Lichfield	Thames
Length of Residence	1 week	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Thames
Folio	2924
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mitchell, Methodist

10 January 1921

David Cornwall White
Dorothy Amorel Way

David Coonwall White
Dorothy Armoral Way
💍 1921/1145

Bachelor
Spinster

Returned Soldier
Domestic

23
20

Ngatea
Ngatea

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Thames

1803

Robert Frederick Way, Father

10 January 1921

Rev. Beck, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	10 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Cornwall White	Dorothy Amorel Way
BDM Match (92%)	David Coonwall White	Dorothy Armoral Way
	💍 1921/1145
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Returned Soldier	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ngatea	Ngatea
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	1803
Consent	Robert Frederick Way, Father
Date of Certificate	10 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beck, 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).