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 976

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar A. S. Johnston

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

25 May 1921

Charles Adolph Crook
Margaret Sophia Ashby

Charles Adolph Crook
Margaret Sophia Ashby
💍 1921/753

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Maternity Nurse

40
35

Pukeatua
Kihikihi

12 years
35 years

Church of England, Kihikihi

4483

25 May 1921

Rev. A. M. Niblock, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	25 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Adolph Crook	Margaret Sophia Ashby
	💍 1921/753
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Maternity Nurse
Age	40	35
Dwelling Place	Pukeatua	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	12 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Kihikihi
Folio	4483
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Niblock, Anglican

27 May 1921

William Donaldson Smillie
Kathleen Turnwald

Wilham Donaldson Smillie
Kathleen Turnwald
💍 1921/754

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic

19
18

Ohaupo
Ohaupo

4 years
18 years

Registrar's Office, Te Awamutu

4484

Elizabeth Smillie (Mother), Francis Turnwald (Father)

27 May 1921

Registrar of Marriages

No	17
Date of Notice	27 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Donaldson Smillie	Kathleen Turnwald
BDM Match (96%)	Wilham Donaldson Smillie	Kathleen Turnwald
	💍 1921/754
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Ohaupo
Length of Residence	4 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Te Awamutu
Folio	4484
Consent	Elizabeth Smillie (Mother), Francis Turnwald (Father)
Date of Certificate	27 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages

31 May 1921

Edgar Herbert Payze
Mabel Isabel Civil

Edgar Herbert Payze
Mabel Isabel Civil
💍 1921/731

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager
Clerk

35
23

Huntly
Te Awamutu

15 months
10 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Te Awamutu

4485

31 May 1921

Rev. F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Herbert Payze	Mabel Isabel Civil
	💍 1921/731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager	Clerk
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Huntly	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	15 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	4485
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Thompson, Presbyterian

6 June 1921

Claude Franklin Leonardo
Ethel May Parker

Claude Franklin Leonardo
Ethel May Parker
💍 1921/732

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24 years
27 years

Ohaupo
Ohaupo

3 days
2 years

Residence of Mr R. Parker, Ohaupo

4486

6 June 1921

Rev. A. M. Niblock, Anglican

No	19
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Claude Franklin Leonardo	Ethel May Parker
	💍 1921/732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24 years	27 years
Dwelling Place	Ohaupo	Ohaupo
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr R. Parker, Ohaupo
Folio	4486
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Niblock, Anglican

6 June 1921

Charles Stewart Alexander
Aileen Mary Corboy

Charles Stewart Alexander
Aileen Mary Corboy
💍 1921/733

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
25

Pokuru
Pokuru

10 years
3 years

St Johns Church, Kihikihi

4487

6 June 1921

Rev. C. Janson, Roman Catholic

No	20
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Stewart Alexander	Aileen Mary Corboy
	💍 1921/733
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Pokuru	Pokuru
Length of Residence	10 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Kihikihi
Folio	4487
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Janson, 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).