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 1126

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar A. Rice

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

16 December 1921

Edwin Speshett Rennie
Mary Augusta Briggs

Edwin Spashett Rainnie
Mary Augusta Briggs
💍 1921/3802

Bachelor
Spinster

Buyer
Domestic

34
30

Auckland
Whangarei

14 years
20 years

Church of England, Whangarei

9768

16 December 1921

Rev G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	78
Date of Notice	16 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Speshett Rennie	Mary Augusta Briggs
BDM Match (93%)	Edwin Spashett Rainnie	Mary Augusta Briggs
	💍 1921/3802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Buyer	Domestic
Age	34	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Whangarei
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	9768
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

16 December 1921

Albert George Stokes Goddard
Mary Bradley

Albert George Stokes Goddard
Mary Bradley
💍 1921/3804

Divorced 28/10/21
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

43
37

Tauraroa
Whangarei

11 months
3 years

In the dwelling of Mrs A. E. Bradley, Maunu Road, Methodist Church, Whangarei

9769

16 December 1921

Rev W. H. Speer, Methodist

No	79
Date of Notice	16 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert George Stokes Goddard	Mary Bradley
	💍 1921/3804
Condition	Divorced 28/10/21	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Tauraroa	Whangarei
Length of Residence	11 months	3 years
Marriage Place	In the dwelling of Mrs A. E. Bradley, Maunu Road, Methodist Church, Whangarei
Folio	9769
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Speer, Methodist

17 December 1921

Robert McKenzie Douglas
Florence Jones

Robert McKenzie Douglas
Florence Jones
💍 1921/3805

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
24

Tahere
Tahere

2 years
24 years

dwelling of Mr T. E. Jones, Tahere

9770

17 December 1921

Rev G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	17 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert McKenzie Douglas	Florence Jones
	💍 1921/3805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Tahere	Tahere
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	dwelling of Mr T. E. Jones, Tahere
Folio	9770
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

20 December 1921

Thomas Walter Moore
Hilda May Walker

Thomas Walter Moore
Hilda May Walker
💍 1921/3806

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

26
26

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 1/2 years
5 years

Church of England, Whangarei

9771

20 December 1921

Rev G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	81
Date of Notice	20 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Walter Moore	Hilda May Walker
	💍 1921/3806
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Whangarei
Folio	9771
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. B. Cruickshank, Church of England

21 December 1921

Edwin Atkinson
Fanny Albury

Edwin Atkinson
Fanny Albury
💍 1921/3807

Widower 10/9/92
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

64
56

Whatitiri
Whatitiri

6 years
6 years

Methodist Church, Whangarei

9772

21 December 1921

Rev W. H. Speer, Methodist

No	82
Date of Notice	21 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Atkinson	Fanny Albury
	💍 1921/3807
Condition	Widower 10/9/92	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	64	56
Dwelling Place	Whatitiri	Whatitiri
Length of Residence	6 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Whangarei
Folio	9772
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Speer, Methodist

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).