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 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Granity Registrar Hbb 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

James Greytor Francis Potter
Georgina Clarke

Treyton James Francis Potter
Georgina Clarke
💍 1921/9760

Bachelor
Spinster

Brakeman
Domestic

29
19

Stockton
Millerton

1 year
6 months

Registrar's Office

2449

Samuel Clarke, Father

25 January 1921

Rev. Hbb McCabe, Deputy Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Greytor Francis Potter	Georgina Clarke
BDM Match (77%)	Treyton James Francis Potter	Georgina Clarke
	💍 1921/9760
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brakeman	Domestic
Age	29	19
Dwelling Place	Stockton	Millerton
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2449
Consent	Samuel Clarke, Father
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Hbb 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

Mangahine
Millerton

2 years
2 years

Church of England

2450

1 February 1921

Rev. J. 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	Mangahine	Millerton
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	2450
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. 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

2451

14 February 1921

Rev. J. 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
Folio	2451
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Tooley, Church of England

26 February 1921

Abram Rowley Geddes
Margaret Shearer

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

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Hairdresser

23
18

Stockton
Stockton

23 years
4.5 years

English Church

2452

Margaret Macfarlane, Mother

26 February 1921

Rev. J. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	26 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Abram Rowley Geddes	Margaret Shearer
BDM Match (63%)	Abram Rowly Greta Geddes	Margaret MacDonald Muir Shearer
	💍 1921/9770
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Hairdresser
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Stockton	Stockton
Length of Residence	23 years	4.5 years
Marriage Place	English Church
Folio	2452
Consent	Margaret Macfarlane, Mother
Date of Certificate	26 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Tooley, Church of England

5 March 1921

William McDoe
Amelia Ilene Marris

William McIndoe
Amelia Ilene Marris
💍 1921/9781

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Civil Servant

30
21

Seddonville
Mokihinui

30 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church

2453

5 March 1921

Rev. J. A. Tooley, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	5 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McDoe	Amelia Ilene Marris
BDM Match (90%)	William McIndoe	Amelia Ilene Marris
	💍 1921/9781
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Civil Servant
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Seddonville	Mokihinui
Length of Residence	30 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	2453
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Tooley, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).