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 1005

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 February 1921

George Richard Nightingale
Florence Mirrian Williamson

George Richard Nightingale
Florence Miriam Williamson
💍 1921/1151

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic

23
16

Thames
Thames

12 years
5 years

Catholic Church Thames

1809

Evelyn Williamson Mother

4 February 1921

Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	4 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Richard Nightingale	Florence Mirrian Williamson
BDM Match (96%)	George Richard Nightingale	Florence Miriam Williamson
	💍 1921/1151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic
Age	23	16
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Thames
Folio	1809
Consent	Evelyn Williamson Mother
Date of Certificate	4 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

8 February 1921

George Flynn
Gwendoline May Maxwell

George Flynn
Gwendoline May Maxwell
💍 1921/1128

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Compositor

30
29

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

St Francis' Church Thames

1810

8 February 1921

Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Flynn	Gwendoline May Maxwell
	💍 1921/1128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Compositor
Age	30	29
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Francis' Church Thames
Folio	1810
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

15 February 1921

John James Park
Lena Sullivan

John James Park
Lena Sullivan
💍 1921/10405

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Saleswoman

31
26

Thames
Thames

12 months
25 years

St Francis Church Thames

2925

15 February 1921

Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John James Park	Lena Sullivan
	💍 1921/10405
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Saleswoman
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	12 months	25 years
Marriage Place	St Francis Church Thames
Folio	2925
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

15 February 1921

Herman Carl Rabe
Alice Elizabeth Mary Denton

Herman Carl Rabe
Alice Elizabeth Mary Denton
💍 1921/1129

Bachelor
Spinster

Gold Miner
Nurse

38
39

Thames
Thames

38 years
2 months

Catholic Church Thames

1811

15 February 1921

Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

No	14
Date of Notice	15 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Carl Rabe	Alice Elizabeth Mary Denton
	💍 1921/1129
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gold Miner	Nurse
Age	38	39
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	38 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Thames
Folio	1811
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan Roman Catholic

18 February 1921

Sydney Beck
Jemima Ellen Franks

Sydney Beck
Jemima Ellen Franks
💍 1921/1130

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

30
35

Thames
Thames

4 weeks
25 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames

1812

18 February 1921

H. R. Bush Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	18 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Beck	Jemima Ellen Franks
	💍 1921/1130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	30	35
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	4 weeks	25 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio	1812
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush Registrar

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).