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 2219

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Buller Registrar Easby

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 March 1921

William Percy Page
Pearl Irene Dobson

William Percy Page
Pearl Irene Dobson
💍 1921/6967

Bachelor
Spinster

Mines
Domestic

26
20

Westport
Westport

5 weeks
10 years

Church of England, Westport

5170

6 April 1921

Rev. J. F. Bawsey, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	23 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percy Page	Pearl Irene Dobson
	💍 1921/6967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mines	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	5 weeks	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	5170
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Bawsey, Church of England

14 April 1921

Thomas William Flannagan
Margaret Jane Foster

Thomas William Flannagan
Margaret Jane Foster
💍 1921/6968

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic Duties

23
25

Westport
Westport

3 years
3 months

Church of England, Westport

5171

14 April 1921

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Flannagan	Margaret Jane Foster
	💍 1921/6968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	5171
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

19 April 1921

Charles Edwin Pomeroy
Catherine Maud Hargreaves

Charles Edwin Pomeroy
Catherine Maud Hargreaves
💍 1921/6969

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Dress maker

31
29

Westport
Westport

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Westport

5172

19 April 1921

Rev. Tooley, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	19 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edwin Pomeroy	Catherine Maud Hargreaves
	💍 1921/6969
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Dress maker
Age	31	29
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Westport
Folio	5172
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Tooley, Church of England

20 April 1921

John Patrick Molloy
Mary Jane Murphy

John Patrick Molloy
Mary Jane Murphy
💍 1921/6970

Widower 4-8-15
Widow 21-6-19

Railway Guard
Domestic Duties

34
35

Westport
Westport

2 years
21 years

Roman Catholic Church, Westport

5173

26 April 1921

Rev. Father Boue, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	20 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Patrick Molloy	Mary Jane Murphy
	💍 1921/6970
Condition	Widower 4-8-15	Widow 21-6-19
Profession	Railway Guard	Domestic Duties
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Westport
Folio	5173
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Boue, Roman Catholic

2 May 1921

Robert Gooding
Revena Mary Donaldson

Robert Gooding
Revena Mary Donaldson
💍 1921/6971

Widower 4-8-15
Widow 21-6-19

Inspector
Domestic Duties

36
35

Westport
Westport

15 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

5174

2 May 1921

Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Gooding	Revena Mary Donaldson
	💍 1921/6971
Condition	Widower 4-8-15	Widow 21-6-19
Profession	Inspector	Domestic Duties
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Westport	Westport
Length of Residence	15 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	5174
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	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).