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 1025

District of Tirau Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar J. F. Welch

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

5 July 1921

Hona Ruru
Nganehu Paora Te Karetai

Hona Ruru
Ngarehu Paora Te Karetai
💍 1921/3338

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

22
20

Tirau
Tirau

22 years
20 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

7130

Paora Te Karetai (Father)

5 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

No	5
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hona Ruru	Nganehu Paora Te Karetai
BDM Match (98%)	Hona Ruru	Ngarehu Paora Te Karetai
	💍 1921/3338
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Tirau	Tirau
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Tirau
Folio	7130
Consent	Paora Te Karetai (Father)
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

9 July 1921

Wilfred Minett Grantham
Elizabeth Evelyn Watson

Wilfred Minett Grantham
Elizabeth Evelyn Watson
💍 1921/3339

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic duties

32
27

Okoroire Railway
Okoroire Railway

2 years
7 years

Residence of John Watson, Okoroire Railway

7131

9 July 1921

Reverend Henry C. Stuart, Matamata, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilfred Minett Grantham	Elizabeth Evelyn Watson
	💍 1921/3339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Okoroire Railway	Okoroire Railway
Length of Residence	2 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Watson, Okoroire Railway
Folio	7131
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Reverend Henry C. Stuart, Matamata, Presbyterian

14 July 1921

Richard Thomas Naysmith
Vera Constance Burton

Richard Thomas Naysmith
Vera Constance Burton
💍 1921/3340

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

30
20

Tirau
Tirau

1 year
1 1/2 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

7132

L. C. Burton (Mother)

14 July 1921

Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

No	7
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Thomas Naysmith	Vera Constance Burton
	💍 1921/3340
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Tirau	Tirau
Length of Residence	1 year	1 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Tirau
Folio	7132
Consent	L. C. Burton (Mother)
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Tirau

30 July 1921

William Simmons Henderson
Agnes Lilian Wheeler

William Simmons Henderson
Agnes Lilian Wheeler
💍 1921/3341

Bachelor
Spinster

Teamster
Typiste

18
17

Putaruru
Putaruru

3 years
13 years

Residence of Henry Charles Wheeler, Putaruru

7133

Matt. Henderson (Father); Henry Charles Wheeler (Father)

30 July 1921

Reverend Walter Parker, Putaruru, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	30 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Simmons Henderson	Agnes Lilian Wheeler
	💍 1921/3341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teamster	Typiste
Age	18	17
Dwelling Place	Putaruru	Putaruru
Length of Residence	3 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Henry Charles Wheeler, Putaruru
Folio	7133
Consent	Matt. Henderson (Father); Henry Charles Wheeler (Father)
Date of Certificate	30 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Reverend Walter Parker, Putaruru, Methodist

20 August 1921

Jonathan Beeby
Edith Mary Towler

Jonathan Beeby
Edith Mary Vowles
💍 1921/3318

Widower 18-11-18
Widow 7-6-17

Farmer
Household Duties

36
34

Hinuera
Hinuera

1 1/2 years
6 weeks

Residence of Jonathan Beeby, Hinuera

7134

20 August 1921

Reverend William Edward Connolly, Matamata, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	20 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jonathan Beeby	Edith Mary Towler
BDM Match (94%)	Jonathan Beeby	Edith Mary Vowles
	💍 1921/3318
Condition	Widower 18-11-18	Widow 7-6-17
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Hinuera	Hinuera
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Jonathan Beeby, Hinuera
Folio	7134
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Reverend William Edward Connolly, Matamata, 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).