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 1012

District of Thames Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar H. R. Bush

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 June 1921

Bertram Alexander Surrey
Elsie May Donnelly

Bertram Alexander Swney
Elsie May Donnelly
💍 1921/6444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
28

Thames
Thames

3 days
25 years

Methodist Church Thames

4522

20 June 1921

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	39
Date of Notice	20 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Alexander Surrey	Elsie May Donnelly
BDM Match (94%)	Bertram Alexander Swney	Elsie May Donnelly
	💍 1921/6444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thames
Folio	4522
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

24 June 1921

John Lawrence Bonasich
Rose May Jones

John Lawrence Bonasich
Rose May Jones
💍 1921/6445

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

36
26

Turua
Turua

1 week
2 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames

4523

24 June 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages Thames

No	40
Date of Notice	24 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Lawrence Bonasich	Rose May Jones
	💍 1921/6445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	1 week	2 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio	4523
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar of Marriages Thames

24 June 1921

Claude Hill
Thelma Gubb

Claude Hill
Thelma Gubb
💍 1921/6446

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Carrier
Tailoress

23
18

Thames
Thames

23 years
18 years

St George's Church Thames

4524

Jessie Gubb, Mother

24 June 1921

Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

No	41
Date of Notice	24 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Hill	Thelma Gubb
	💍 1921/6446
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Carrier	Tailoress
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	23 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St George's Church Thames
Folio	4524
Consent	Jessie Gubb, Mother
Date of Certificate	24 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Beck, Church of England

28 June 1921

George Gordon Way
Harriett Thelma Kemp

George Gordon Way
Harriett Thelma Kemp
💍 1921/6447

Widower, date of death of former wife 16th April 1918
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

35
22

Thames
Thames

35 years
22 years

Residence of Mrs Sarah Helen Way, Coast Rd Thames

4525

28 June 1921

Rev. J. Farquharson Jones

No	42
Date of Notice	28 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Gordon Way	Harriett Thelma Kemp
	💍 1921/6447
Condition	Widower, date of death of former wife 16th April 1918	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	35 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Sarah Helen Way, Coast Rd Thames
Folio	4525
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Farquharson Jones

29 June 1921

Joseph Albert Quinn
Catherine Josephine Rogan

Joseph Albert Quinn
Catherine Josephine Rogan
💍 1921/6360

Widower, date decease former wife 20th May 1920
Spinster

Sawmill worker
Domestic duties

33
35

Thames
Thames

3 days
6 Months

St Francis' Church Thames

4526

29 June 1921

Rev. Father Brennan, Roman Catholic

No	43
Date of Notice	29 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Albert Quinn	Catherine Josephine Rogan
	💍 1921/6360
Condition	Widower, date decease former wife 20th May 1920	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill worker	Domestic duties
Age	33	35
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	6 Months
Marriage Place	St Francis' Church Thames
Folio	4526
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan, Roman Catholic

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).