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 2197

District of Ahaura Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar E. C. Rickard

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 October 1921

William Henry Kirke Gilmour
Christina Campbell Baybutt

William Henry Kirke Gilmour
Christina Campbell Baybutt
💍 1921/3954

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic Duties

45
28

Totara Flat
Totara Flat

6 days
28 years

In The Private Home of Mr. D. Baybutt, Totara Flat

21/10195

26 October 1921

Mr. W B Browning, Presbyterian Minister, Totara Flat

No	8
Date of Notice	26 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Kirke Gilmour	Christina Campbell Baybutt
	💍 1921/3954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	28
Dwelling Place	Totara Flat	Totara Flat
Length of Residence	6 days	28 years
Marriage Place	In The Private Home of Mr. D. Baybutt, Totara Flat
Folio	21/10195
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. W B Browning, Presbyterian Minister, Totara Flat

15 November 1921

James Henry Boag
Elizabeth Ida Glasson

James Henry Boag
Elizabeth Ada Glasson
💍 1921/3955

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
School Teacher

25
23

Blackball
Blackball

5 years
23 years

In the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Ahaura

21/10196

15 November 1921

E C Rickard, Registrar of Marriages, Ahaura

No	9
Date of Notice	15 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Boag	Elizabeth Ida Glasson
BDM Match (98%)	James Henry Boag	Elizabeth Ada Glasson
	💍 1921/3955
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	School Teacher
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	In the Office of Registrar of Marriages, Ahaura
Folio	21/10196
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1921
Officiating Minister	E C Rickard, Registrar of Marriages, Ahaura

14 December 1921

Thomas Atkinson Heyward
Amelia Elizabeth Goodall

Thomas Atkinson Heyward
Amelia Elizabeth Goodall
💍 1921/3956

Thomas Wesley McDonald
Florence Elizabeth Goodall
💍 1921/2456

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

23
20

Blackball
Blackball

11 years
20 years

In the Church of England at Blackball

21/10197

William Goodall, father of A. E. Goodall

14 December 1921

Rev. D. S. Evans, Anglican Minister, Greymouth

No	10
Date of Notice	14 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Atkinson Heyward	Amelia Elizabeth Goodall
	💍 1921/3956
BDM Match (56%)	Thomas Wesley McDonald	Florence Elizabeth Goodall
	💍 1921/2456
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Blackball	Blackball
Length of Residence	11 years	20 years
Marriage Place	In the Church of England at Blackball
Folio	21/10197
Consent	William Goodall, father of A. E. Goodall
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. S. Evans, Anglican Minister, Greymouth

31 December 1921

Alfred Rex Fitzgerald
Annie Bridget O'Brien

Alfred Ren Rex Fitzgerald
Annie Bridget OBrien
💍 1922/608

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic Duties

31
26

Nelson Creek
Nelson Creek

2 years
26 years

In the Catholic Church at Nelson Creek

22/105

31 December 1921

Rev. Father Fogarty, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

No	11
Date of Notice	31 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Rex Fitzgerald	Annie Bridget O'Brien
BDM Match (90%)	Alfred Ren Rex Fitzgerald	Annie Bridget OBrien
	💍 1922/608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic Duties
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Nelson Creek	Nelson Creek
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the Catholic Church at Nelson Creek
Folio	22/105
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Fogarty, Catholic Priest, Ahaura

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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).