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 914

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar [illegible]

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

6 December 1921

James Berry Hoyes
Hazel Elizabeth Mary Scahill

James Berry Hoyes
Hazel Elizabeth Mary Scahill
💍 1921/5744

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic Duties

21
16

Rotorua
Rotorua

21 years
12 years

St John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

9642

James Martin Scahill, Father

6 December 1921

Rev. A. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	6 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Berry Hoyes	Hazel Elizabeth Mary Scahill
	💍 1921/5744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic Duties
Age	21	16
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	21 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St John's Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	9642
Consent	James Martin Scahill, Father
Date of Certificate	6 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Paterson, Presbyterian

6 December 1921

James Merritt
Margaret Allen

James Merritt
Margaret Allen
💍 1921/5745

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

2 weeks
4 weeks

Church of England, Ohinemutu

9643

6 December 1921

Rev. H. Munro, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	6 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Merritt	Margaret Allen
	💍 1921/5745
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ohinemutu
Folio	9643
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Munro, Church of England

7 December 1921

Archibald Sydney Brook
Catherine O'Connor

Archibald Sydney Crook
Catherine OConnor
💍 1921/5746

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Housekeeper

40
46

Rotorua
Rotorua

10 days
7 days

St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

9644

7 December 1921

Rev. Dean Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	49
Date of Notice	7 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Sydney Brook	Catherine O'Connor
BDM Match (95%)	Archibald Sydney Crook	Catherine OConnor
	💍 1921/5746
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	40	46
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	10 days	7 days
Marriage Place	St. Michael's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	9644
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Lightheart, Roman Catholic

14 December 1921

Archibald Edwin Smith
Nellie Eleanor Bateman

Archibald Edwin Smith
Nellie Eleanor Bateman
💍 1921/5748

Bachelor
Spinster

Car Proprietor
Book-keeper

28
28

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 months
5 weeks

Church of England, Ohinemutu

9645

14 December 1921

Rev. H. Munro, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	14 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Edwin Smith	Nellie Eleanor Bateman
	💍 1921/5748
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Car Proprietor	Book-keeper
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 months	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ohinemutu
Folio	9645
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Munro, Church of England

17 December 1921

Sidney Augustine Blake
Elizabeth Hilda Kelly

Sidney Augustine Blake
Elizabeth Hilda Kelly
💍 1921/5749

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor car Proprietor
Domestic Duties

33
25

Hamilton
Rotorua

-
3 months

Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

9646

17 December 1921

Rev. Dean Lightheart, Roman Catholic

No	51
Date of Notice	17 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Augustine Blake	Elizabeth Hilda Kelly
	💍 1921/5749
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor car Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	25
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Rotorua
Length of Residence	-	3 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	9646
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Lightheart, Roman Catholic

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).