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 1011

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 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

28 May 1921

Willie Connor
Christina McGregor

Willie Connor
Christina McGregor
💍 1921/6438

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
23

Thames
Thames

3 days

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames

4517

28 May 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

No	34
Date of Notice	28 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Willie Connor	Christina McGregor
	💍 1921/6438
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Thames
Folio	4517
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 May 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages, Thames

30 May 1921

Robert Alexander Frisslen
Florence Powdrell

Robert Alexander Frisken
Florence Powdrell
💍 1921/6439

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Matatoki
Matatoki

22 years
22 years

Church of England, Thames

4518

30 May 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	35
Date of Notice	30 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alexander Frisslen	Florence Powdrell
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Alexander Frisken	Florence Powdrell
	💍 1921/6439
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Matatoki	Matatoki
Length of Residence	22 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	4518
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

30 May 1921

Charles Williamson Park
Emma Adelaide Culpit

Charles Williamson Park
Emma Adelaide Culpitt
💍 1921/6440

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
24

Thames
Thames

18 months
24 years

St George's Church, Thames

4519

30 May 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	36
Date of Notice	30 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Williamson Park	Emma Adelaide Culpit
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Williamson Park	Emma Adelaide Culpitt
	💍 1921/6440
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	18 months	24 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church, Thames
Folio	4519
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

6 June 1921

Peter Patrick Skelton
Ellen O'Sullivan

Peter Patrick Skelton
Ellen OSullivan
💍 1921/6442

Bachelor
Widow (Husband died 15th December 1915)

Carter
Domestic Duties

44
45

Thames
Thames

44 years
45 years

St Francis' Church, Thames

4520

6 June 1921

Rev. Father Doherty, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Patrick Skelton	Ellen O'Sullivan
BDM Match (97%)	Peter Patrick Skelton	Ellen OSullivan
	💍 1921/6442
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (Husband died 15th December 1915)
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	44	45
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	44 years	45 years
Marriage Place	St Francis' Church, Thames
Folio	4520
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Doherty, Roman Catholic

7 June 1921

William John Thomas
Emily Mary Twamley Smith

William John Thomas
Emily Mary Twamley Smith
💍 1921/6443

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20
21

Hikutaia
Puriri

20 years
6 years

Dwelling of Andrew Smith, Puriri

4521

Michael James Thomas, Father

7 June 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	7 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Thomas	Emily Mary Twamley Smith
	💍 1921/6443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Hikutaia	Puriri
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Andrew Smith, Puriri
Folio	4521
Consent	Michael James Thomas, Father
Date of Certificate	7 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. 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).