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 928

District of Taumarunui Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar J. W. McLean

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

23 May 1921

William Thomas Wilson
Nancy Hemingray

William Thomas Wilson
Nancy Hemingray
💍 1921/6356

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill Hand
Domestic Duties

33
30

Manunui
Manunui

33 years
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Manunui

4456

23 May 1921

Rev J A Kempthorne, English

No	11
Date of Notice	23 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Wilson	Nancy Hemingray
	💍 1921/6356
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Manunui	Manunui
Length of Residence	33 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Manunui
Folio	4456
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Kempthorne, English

31 May 1921

Eri Wi Hongi
Lena Piripi

Eri Wi Hongi
Lena Piripi
💍 1921/6357

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

24
21

Taumarunui
O-Kahu-Kura

2 years
21 years

Registrar's Office, Taumarunui

4457

31 May 1921

J W McLean, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eri Wi Hongi	Lena Piripi
	💍 1921/6357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	O-Kahu-Kura
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taumarunui
Folio	4457
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	J W McLean, Registrar

2 June 1921

Edward Rudof Janshewsky
Signa Hansen

Edward Rudof Janshewsky
Signe Hansen
💍 1921/6358

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
37

Matapuna
Matapuna

6 months
12 years

Registrar's Office, Taumarunui

4458

2 June 1921

J W McLean, Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	2 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Rudof Janshewsky	Signa Hansen
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Rudof Janshewsky	Signe Hansen
	💍 1921/6358
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	37
Dwelling Place	Matapuna	Matapuna
Length of Residence	6 months	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taumarunui
Folio	4458
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1921
Officiating Minister	J W McLean, Registrar

6 June 1921

William Henry Homes
Alethea Barbara Gertrude Cook

William Henry Homes
Alethea Barbara Gertrude Cook
💍 1921/6359

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

37
36

Taumarunui
Taumarunui

4 months
5 months

Church of England, Taumarunui

4459

6 June 1921

Rev J A Kempthorne, English

No	14
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Homes	Alethea Barbara Gertrude Cook
	💍 1921/6359
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	37	36
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Taumarunui
Length of Residence	4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Taumarunui
Folio	4459
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Kempthorne, English

6 June 1921

Leslie Bernard Riley
Mary Catherine Kinnaird

Leslie Bernard Riley
Mary Catherine Kinnaird
💍 1921/6336

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
16

Tangitu
Tangitu

3 days
12 years

Registrar's Office, Taumarunui

4460

James Kinnaird, Father

6 June 1921

J W McLean, Registrar

No	15
Date of Notice	6 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Bernard Riley	Mary Catherine Kinnaird
	💍 1921/6336
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	16
Dwelling Place	Tangitu	Tangitu
Length of Residence	3 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Taumarunui
Folio	4460
Consent	James Kinnaird, Father
Date of Certificate	6 June 1921
Officiating Minister	J W McLean, Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).