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 2187

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Wairau Registrar H. C. 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

1 October 1921

Arthur John Hedly
Martha Caroline Jenkins

Arthur John Healy
Martha Caroline Jenkins
💍 1921/3962

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

26
23

Blenheim
Blenheim

26 years
8 years

Catholic Church Blenheim

10180

1 October 1921

Rev. J. M. Heffernan, Roman Catholic

No	78
Date of Notice	1 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur John Hedly	Martha Caroline Jenkins
BDM Match (97%)	Arthur John Healy	Martha Caroline Jenkins
	💍 1921/3962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	26 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Blenheim
Folio	10180
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Heffernan, Roman Catholic

4 October 1921

William Thomas Stent
Ivy Adams

William Thomas Stent
Ivy Adams
💍 1921/3963

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

22
23

Blenheim
Fairhall

18 months
23 years

Church of Nativity Blenheim

10181

4 October 1921

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	79
Date of Notice	4 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Stent	Ivy Adams
	💍 1921/3963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Fairhall
Length of Residence	18 months	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of Nativity Blenheim
Folio	10181
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

4 October 1921

Lewis Aubrey Beatson
Ivalina Zillah Sutherland

Lewis Aubrey Beatson
Zillah Ivalina Sutherland
💍 1921/3964

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
26

Lower Wairau
Lower Wairau

30 years
26 years

Presbyterian Church Blenheim

10182

4 October 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	4 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Aubrey Beatson	Ivalina Zillah Sutherland
BDM Match (76%)	Lewis Aubrey Beatson	Zillah Ivalina Sutherland
	💍 1921/3964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Lower Wairau	Lower Wairau
Length of Residence	30 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Blenheim
Folio	10182
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

31 October 1921

Edmund Herbert Nees
Evelyn Florence Jane Looms

Edmund Herbert Nees
Evelyn Florence Jane Looms
💍 1921/3965

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
25

Okaramio
Okaramio

24 years
25 years

Residence of Mr. B. Brierly Renwicktown

10183

Mr. B. Brierly, Renwicktown

31 October 1921

No	81
Date of Notice	31 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edmund Herbert Nees	Evelyn Florence Jane Looms
	💍 1921/3965
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Okaramio	Okaramio
Length of Residence	24 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. B. Brierly Renwicktown
Folio	10183
Consent	Mr. B. Brierly, Renwicktown
Date of Certificate	31 October 1921
Officiating Minister

14 November 1921

Henry Mark Keesing
Alice Dorothy Mellot

Henry Mark Keesing
Alice Dorothy Mellor
💍 1921/3966

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Nurse

30
26

Blenheim
Blenheim

2 years
4 days

Registrar's Office Blenheim

10184

14 November 1921

Mr. A. J. Stratton, Deputy Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	14 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mark Keesing	Alice Dorothy Mellot
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Mark Keesing	Alice Dorothy Mellor
	💍 1921/3966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Nurse
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Blenheim
Folio	10184
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. A. J. Stratton, Deputy Registrar

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).