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 1118

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar Frank 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

20 July 1921

(Pte) Pita Hau
Huhana Hukena Eruera Heta

Pita Hau
Huhana Eruera Heta
💍 1921/3366

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Domestic

24
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

3 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church Whangarei

7158

20 July 1921

Rev. Joseph Devolder, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	20 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	(Pte) Pita Hau	Huhana Hukena Eruera Heta
BDM Match (65%)	Pita Hau	Huhana Eruera Heta
	💍 1921/3366
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Whangarei
Folio	7158
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Joseph Devolder, Roman Catholic

21 July 1921

Ernest Henry Pulham
Eileen Marsh

Ernest Henry Pulham
Pikau Marsh
💍 1921/3343

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
17

Parakao
Parakao

17 years
6 years

Registrar's Office Whangarei

7159

Sidney Marsh, Father

21 July 1921

P. J. Norwood, Deputy Registrar

No	41
Date of Notice	21 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Henry Pulham	Eileen Marsh
BDM Match (79%)	Ernest Henry Pulham	Pikau Marsh
	💍 1921/3343
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	17
Dwelling Place	Parakao	Parakao
Length of Residence	17 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	7159
Consent	Sidney Marsh, Father
Date of Certificate	21 July 1921
Officiating Minister	P. J. Norwood, Deputy Registrar

27 July 1921

Hugh Stanislaus Gallen
Frances Muriel King

Hugh Stanislaus Gallen
Frances Muriel King
💍 1921/3344

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

29
27

Whangarei
Whangarei

5 days
3 months

Registrar's Office Whangarei

7160

27 July 1921

Frank Bird, Registrar

No	42
Date of Notice	27 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Stanislaus Gallen	Frances Muriel King
	💍 1921/3344
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	7160
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Frank Bird, Registrar

29 July 1921

Frederick John Crafts
Minnie May Tebbutt

Frederick John Crafts
Minnie May Tebbutt
💍 1921/3345

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinet maker
Civil servant

25
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

7 months
13 months

Baptist Church Whangarei

7161

29 July 1921

Rev. W. Lambert, Baptist

No	43
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John Crafts	Minnie May Tebbutt
	💍 1921/3345
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinet maker	Civil servant
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 months	13 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Whangarei
Folio	7161
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Lambert, Baptist

4 August 1921

Lionel Percy Ford
Margory Caldwell Thomson

Lionel Percy Ford
Margory Caldwell Thomson
💍 1921/3346

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Domestic

22
21

Whangarei
Whananaki

3 days
2 1/2 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

7162

4 August 1921

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	4 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Percy Ford	Margory Caldwell Thomson
	💍 1921/3346
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whananaki
Length of Residence	3 days	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	7162
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

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).