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 2243

District of Granity Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar H. C. C. McCabe

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

25 January 1921

Treyton James Francis Potter
Georgina Clarke

Treyton James Francis Potter
Georgina Clarke
💍 1921/9760

Bachelor
Spinster

Brakesman
Domestic

29
19

Stockton
Millerton

1 year 6 mths
10 years

Registrar's Office, Granity

21/2449

Samuel Clarke, Father

25 January 1921

H. C. C. McCabe, Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Treyton James Francis Potter	Georgina Clarke
	💍 1921/9760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brakesman	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Stockton	Millerton
Length of Residence	1 year 6 mths	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Granity
Folio	21/2449
Consent	Samuel Clarke, Father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. C. C. McCabe, Deputy Registrar

1 February 1921

Thomas William Grace
Mildred Evelyn McCallum

Thomas William Grace
Mildred Evelyn McCallum
💍 1921/9761

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic

27
22

Mangatina
Millerton

2 years
2 years

Church of England, Granity

21/2450

1 February 1921

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Grace	Mildred Evelyn McCallum
	💍 1921/9761
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Mangatina	Millerton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Granity
Folio	21/2450
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

14 February 1921

Ernest Norman Kissell
Alice Ruth Jones

Ernest Norman Kissell
Alice Ruth Jones
💍 1921/9762

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Fireman
Domestic

26
20

Westport
Seddonville

26 years
12 years

Residence of Brides parents, Seddonville

21/2451

Meyrick Llewellyn Jones, father

14 February 1921

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Norman Kissell	Alice Ruth Jones
	💍 1921/9762
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Fireman	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Westport	Seddonville
Length of Residence	26 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides parents, Seddonville
Folio	21/2451
Consent	Meyrick Llewellyn Jones, father
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

26 February 1921

Abram Rowley Greta Geddes
Margaret MacDonald Muir Shearer

Abram Rowly Greta Geddes
Margaret MacDonald Muir Shearer
💍 1921/9770

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Waitress

23
18

Stockton
Stockton

23 years
4 1/2 years

English Church, Granity

21/2452

Margaret Frew Shearer, Mother

26 February 1921

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abram Rowley Greta Geddes	Margaret MacDonald Muir Shearer
BDM Match (98%)	Abram Rowly Greta Geddes	Margaret MacDonald Muir Shearer
	💍 1921/9770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Waitress
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Stockton	Stockton
Length of Residence	23 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Granity
Folio	21/2452
Consent	Margaret Frew Shearer, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

5 March 1921

William McIndoe
Amelia Ilene Marris

William McIndoe
Amelia Ilene Marris
💍 1921/9781

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Civil Servant

30
21

Seddonville
Mokihinui

28 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Seddonville

21/2453

5 March 1921

Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	5 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McIndoe	Amelia Ilene Marris
	💍 1921/9781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Civil Servant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Seddonville	Mokihinui
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Seddonville
Folio	21/2453
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. A. Tooley, Church of England

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).