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 1117

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar F. Bird

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

Richard Whitoitt
Harriett Eva Roberts

Richard Whitsitt
Harriett Eva Roberts
💍 1921/3361

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

34
28

Taupiri, Waikato
Puatengata

10 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

7153

5 July 1921

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Whitoitt	Harriett Eva Roberts
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Whitsitt	Harriett Eva Roberts
	💍 1921/3361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Taupiri, Waikato	Puatengata
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	7153
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

9 July 1921

William Henry Jones
Bertha Hannah Dobbs

William Henry Jones
Bertha Hannah Dobbs
💍 1921/3362

Bachelor
Spinster

Colliery horseman
Domestic

25
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

7154

9 July 1921

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Jones	Bertha Hannah Dobbs
	💍 1921/3362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Colliery horseman	Domestic
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	7154
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

11 July 1921

William James Mills
Clara Ellen Fyfe

William James Mills
Clara Ellen Fyfe
💍 1921/3363

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

23
17

Kamo
Kamo

2 months
2 months

Dwelling of Thomas Fyfe, Kamo

7155

Thomas Fyfe, father

11 July 1921

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Mills	Clara Ellen Fyfe
	💍 1921/3363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Thomas Fyfe, Kamo
Folio	7155
Consent	Thomas Fyfe, father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

12 July 1921

Alexander Watt Beveridge
Florence Marguerite Fletcher

Alexander Watt Beveridge
Florence Marguerite Fletcher
💍 1921/3364

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic

42
25

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Whangarei

7156

12 July 1921

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Watt Beveridge	Florence Marguerite Fletcher
	💍 1921/3364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic
Age	42	25
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	7156
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

14 July 1921

Simeon Henry Williams
Olga Drucker

Simeon Henry Williams
Olga Drucker
💍 1921/3365

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

36
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

7157

14 July 1921

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	39
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Simeon Henry Williams	Olga Drucker
	💍 1921/3365
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	7157
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, 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).