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 1110

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar J. S. Pira

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 March 1921

Charles Richard Wedge
Elsie Irene Shelley

Charles Richard Wedge
Elsie Irene Shelley
💍 1921/9212

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

22
20

Kiripaka
Kiripaka

10 years
14 years

Presbyterian Church Whangarei

1847

Thomas Shelley, Father

5 March 1921

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Richard Wedge	Elsie Irene Shelley
	💍 1921/9212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Kiripaka	Kiripaka
Length of Residence	10 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Whangarei
Folio	1847
Consent	Thomas Shelley, Father
Date of Certificate	5 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

8 March 1921

Arthur Walton
Nora Rose Wrack

Arthur Walton
Nora Rose Wrack
💍 1921/9213

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

23
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

1 day
23 years

Dwelling of Henry Stephenson Wrack Whangarei

1848

8 March 1921

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Walton	Nora Rose Wrack
	💍 1921/9213
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	1 day	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Henry Stephenson Wrack Whangarei
Folio	1848
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

8 March 1921

Joseph Abbey Richardson
Margaret Emily McConnell

Joseph Abbey Richardson
Margaret Emily McConnell
💍 1921/9214

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
26

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 days
18 months

Church of England Whangarei

1849

8 March 1921

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Abbey Richardson	Margaret Emily McConnell
	💍 1921/9214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 days	18 months
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	1849
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

9 March 1921

William Henry Rivers
Ella Russell Williams

William Henry Rivers
Ella Russell Williams
💍 1921/9215

William Henry Hayward
Lilian Bertha Williams
💍 1921/8543

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Domestic

24
24

Whangarei
Whangarei

4 days
4 months

Registrar's Office Whangarei

1850

9 March 1921

P. J. Norwood, Deputy Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	9 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Rivers	Ella Russell Williams
	💍 1921/9215
BDM Match (61%)	William Henry Hayward	Lilian Bertha Williams
	💍 1921/8543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	4 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	1850
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1921
Officiating Minister	P. J. Norwood, Deputy Registrar

11 March 1921

Horace Warwick Hutchings
Mary Olive Wright

Horace Warwick Hutchings
Mary Clive Wright
💍 1921/9223

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
27

Wellington
Whangarei

8 years
4 days

Church of England Whangarei

1851

11 March 1921

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Warwick Hutchings	Mary Olive Wright
BDM Match (97%)	Horace Warwick Hutchings	Mary Clive Wright
	💍 1921/9223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Whangarei
Length of Residence	8 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	1851
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, 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).