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 1114

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar J. Bica

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

6 May 1921

Harold Hosking
Janet Coutts Kerr

Harold Hosking
Janet Coutts Kerr
💍 1921/756

Bachelor
Spinster

Sulphur Burner
Domestic

32
34

Onehunga
Kamo

3 months
34 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

4560

6 May 1921

Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	6 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Hosking	Janet Coutts Kerr
	💍 1921/756
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sulphur Burner	Domestic
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Onehunga	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 months	34 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	4560
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

14 May 1921

Edmund Nelson Carrington
Annie Maud McRae

Edmund Nelson Carrington
Annie Maud McRae
💍 1921/757

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
21

Moengawahine
Maungatapere

21 years
6 years

dwelling of J. D. McKenzie Whangarei

4561

14 May 1921

Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	14 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Nelson Carrington	Annie Maud McRae
	💍 1921/757
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Moengawahine	Maungatapere
Length of Residence	21 years	6 years
Marriage Place	dwelling of J. D. McKenzie Whangarei
Folio	4561
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

23 May 1921

Walter Henry Irving
Eileen Mary Wedge

Walter Henry Irving
Eileen Mary Wedge
💍 1921/758

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

21
19

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

4562

Richard Frederick Wedge, Father

23 May 1921

Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	23 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Irving	Eileen Mary Wedge
	💍 1921/758
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	4562
Consent	Richard Frederick Wedge, Father
Date of Certificate	23 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G W Lochore, Presbyterian

30 May 1921

Henry Seymour Macken
Florence McInnes

Henry Seymour Macken
Florence McInnes
💍 1921/759

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper
Domestic

24
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 days

dwelling of Mrs C Munro Rust Lane Whangarei

4563

30 May 1921

Rev D McNeur, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	30 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Seymour Macken	Florence McInnes
	💍 1921/759
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	dwelling of Mrs C Munro Rust Lane Whangarei
Folio	4563
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev D McNeur, Presbyterian

30 May 1921

Gilbert Dobson
Dorothy Myrtle Whitelaw

Gilbert Dobson
Dorothy Myrtle Whitelaw
💍 1921/760

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

22
20

Kamo
Kamo

22 years
20 years

Church of England Whangarei

4564

Matthew Whitelaw, Father

30 May 1921

Rev R H Johnson, Church of England

No	25
Date of Notice	30 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert Dobson	Dorothy Myrtle Whitelaw
	💍 1921/760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Kamo	Kamo
Length of Residence	22 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	4564
Consent	Matthew Whitelaw, Father
Date of Certificate	30 May 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).