Intentions to Marry, 1921 Kaikoura to Christchurch

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840501, 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.

1921f contains pages 2143-2690, covering districts from Kaikoura to Christchurch

Page 2183

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Wairau Registrar A. G. Butcher

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

26 July 1921

John MacPherson
Helen Lyons

John MacPherson
Helen Lyons
💍 1921/4361

Bachelor
Widow (4/11/18)

Boiler Maker
Nurse

34
37

Blenheim
Blenheim

10 years
6 months

Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands

7656

26 July 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	26 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John MacPherson	Helen Lyons
	💍 1921/4361
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4/11/18)
Profession	Boiler Maker	Nurse
Age	34	37
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	10 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands
Folio	7656
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

30 July 1921

John Gordon Shapp
Cecilia Mary Trischler

John Gordon Stapp
Cecilia Mary Trischler
💍 1921/4362

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home Duties

21
18

Blenheim
Blenheim

8 days
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim

7657

Mary Trischler, mother

30 July 1921

Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

No	65
Date of Notice	30 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Gordon Shapp	Cecilia Mary Trischler
BDM Match (97%)	John Gordon Stapp	Cecilia Mary Trischler
	💍 1921/4362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home Duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	8 days	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Blenheim
Folio	7657
Consent	Mary Trischler, mother
Date of Certificate	30 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Le Bouteiller, Roman Catholic

8 August 1921

David Hood
Jessie Walton

David Hood
Jessie Walton
💍 1921/4363

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Draper

38
43

Blenheim
Blenheim

3 days
11 years

Methodist Church, Blenheim

7658

8 August 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	66
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hood	Jessie Walton
	💍 1921/4363
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Draper
Age	38	43
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	7658
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

8 August 1921

Leonard Gardiner
Olive Sarah Jane Badman

Leonard Gardiner
Olive Sarah Jane Badman
💍 1921/4364

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener
Domestic Duties

21
21

Blenheim
Waikakaho

21 years

St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek

7659

8 August 1921

Rev. W. Woolstein, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Gardiner	Olive Sarah Jane Badman
	💍 1921/4364
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Waikakaho
Length of Residence		21 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Spring Creek
Folio	7659
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Woolstein, Church of England

15 August 1921

Francis Walter Reynolds Willcox
Edith Rhoda Daniels

Francis Walter Reynolds Willcox
Edith Rhoda Daniels
💍 1921/4341

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Registered Nurse

36
24

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 1/2 years
24 years

Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands

7660

15 August 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	68
Date of Notice	15 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Reynolds Willcox	Edith Rhoda Daniels
	💍 1921/4341
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Registered Nurse
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. W. O. Robb, Springlands
Folio	7660
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, 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).