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 1111

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. Pica

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

19 March 1921

Ivan Viskovich
Constance Snodgrass

Ivan Viskoviche
Constance Snodgrass
💍 1921/9234

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

St Francis Xavier's Church Whangarei

1852

19 March 1921

Rev Joseph Devolder, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	19 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Viskovich	Constance Snodgrass
BDM Match (97%)	Ivan Viskoviche	Constance Snodgrass
	💍 1921/9234
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St Francis Xavier's Church Whangarei
Folio	1852
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Joseph Devolder, Roman Catholic

21 March 1921

Augustus Charles Norden
Kathleen Parker

Augustus Charles Norden
Kathleen Parker
💍 1921/9241

Bachelor
Spinster

Produce Merchant
Domestic

29
21

Auckland
Whangarei

7 months
19 years

Church of England Whangarei

1853

21 March 1921

Rev G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Charles Norden	Kathleen Parker
	💍 1921/9241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Produce Merchant	Domestic
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	1853
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

24 March 1921

George Henry Graham
Dorothy May Peters

George Henry Grantham
Dorothy May Peters
💍 1921/9242

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic

24
21

Ruatangata
Ruatangata

6 days
12 years

Methodist Church Whangarei

1854

24 March 1921

Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Graham	Dorothy May Peters
BDM Match (95%)	George Henry Grantham	Dorothy May Peters
	💍 1921/9242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Ruatangata
Length of Residence	6 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Whangarei
Folio	1854
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist

24 March 1921

John Smith O'Brien
Emma Agnes McLean

John Smith OBrien
Emma Agnes McLean
💍 1921/9243

Bachelor
Spinster

Butler
Domestic

29
19

Kamo
Kamo

7 months
19 years

Church of England Kamo

1855

James McLean, Father

24 March 1921

Rev G. E. Nicholas, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith O'Brien	Emma Agnes McLean
BDM Match (97%)	John Smith OBrien	Emma Agnes McLean
	💍 1921/9243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butler	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	7 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Kamo
Folio	1855
Consent	James McLean, Father
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. E. Nicholas, Church of England

31 March 1921

William Percival Wright
Wilhelmina Emma Hamlin

William Percival Wright
Wilhelmina Emma Hamlin
💍 1921/9244

Bachelor
Widow 16/12/1915

Farm proprietor
Domestic

39
26

Whangarei
Aponga

25 years
1 year

Church of England Whangarei

1856

31 March 1921

Rev R. H. Johnson, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	31 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percival Wright	Wilhelmina Emma Hamlin
	💍 1921/9244
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 16/12/1915
Profession	Farm proprietor	Domestic
Age	39	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Aponga
Length of Residence	25 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	1856
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R. H. Johnson, 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).