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 1004

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 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

11 January 1921

William Edward Dwyer
Lillias Constance McLean

William Edward Dwyer
Lillias Constance McLean
💍 1921/1146

Bachelor
Spinster

Exchange Clerk
Exchange Clerk

26
22

Thames
Thames

10 days
2 weeks

St. Francis' Church Thames

1804

11 January 1921

Rev. Father Brennan, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	11 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Dwyer	Lillias Constance McLean
	💍 1921/1146
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Exchange Clerk	Exchange Clerk
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	10 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Francis' Church Thames
Folio	1804
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Brennan, Roman Catholic

17 January 1921

Philip Charles France Gooder
Bessie Evelyn Dovell

Philp Charles Frances Gooder
Bessie Evelyn Dovell
💍 1921/1147

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
24

Thames
Thames

7 years
24 years

Methodist Church Thames

1805

17 January 1921

Rev. Mitchell, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Charles France Gooder	Bessie Evelyn Dovell
BDM Match (96%)	Philp Charles Frances Gooder	Bessie Evelyn Dovell
	💍 1921/1147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Thames
Folio	1805
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Mitchell, Methodist

17 January 1921

Edmond Ford
Maungaroa Herepete Kingi

Edmond Ford
Maungaroa Hererete Kingi
💍 1921/1148

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

31
22

Thames
Thames

30 years
4 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames

1806

17 January 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmond Ford	Maungaroa Herepete Kingi
BDM Match (98%)	Edmond Ford	Maungaroa Hererete Kingi
	💍 1921/1148
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	30 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio	1806
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

21 January 1921

Arthur Charles
Florence Hilda Gleeson

Arthur Charles
Florence Hilda Gleeson
💍 1921/1149

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

26
21

Thames
Thames

6 days
4 weeks

Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames

1807

21 January 1921

H. R. Bush, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	21 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Charles	Florence Hilda Gleeson
	💍 1921/1149
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	6 days	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages Thames
Folio	1807
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. R. Bush, Registrar

22 January 1921

William Percy Earnshaw Dimery
May Innis

William Percy Earnshaw Dimery
May Innes
💍 1921/1150

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician
Domestic Duties

30
28

Thames
Wharepoa

4 days
28 years

Dwelling house of Arthur Innis at Wharepoa

1868

22 January 1921

Rev. Falconer, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	22 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percy Earnshaw Dimery	May Innis
BDM Match (94%)	William Percy Earnshaw Dimery	May Innes
	💍 1921/1150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Thames	Wharepoa
Length of Residence	4 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling house of Arthur Innis at Wharepoa
Folio	1868
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Falconer, 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).