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 2269

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Motueka Registrar Dug. S. Sutts

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

2 April 1921

Charles Frederick Scrimgeour
Lorna Emily Henrietta Fowler

Charles Frederick Scrimgeour
Lorna Emily Henrietta Fowler
💍 1921/6986

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
24

Motueka
Motueka

2 days
24 years

St Thomas' Church, Motueka

5190

2 April 1921

Rev. John Pope, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	2 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Scrimgeour	Lorna Emily Henrietta Fowler
	💍 1921/6986
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence	2 days	24 years
Marriage Place	St Thomas' Church, Motueka
Folio	5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Pope, Anglican

5 April 1921

Hiram Dimant
Frances Margaret Fry

Hiram Dimant
Frances Margaret Fry
💍 1921/6987

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

48
42

Riwaka
Riwaka

3 days
42 years

Presbyterian Church, Riwaka

5191

5 April 1921

Rev. J. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hiram Dimant	Frances Margaret Fry
	💍 1921/6987
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	48	42
Dwelling Place	Riwaka	Riwaka
Length of Residence	3 days	42 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Riwaka
Folio	5191
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

8 April 1921

Kenneth Ernest Grosby
Bertha Alice Gifford

Kenneth Ernest Grooby
Beatrice Alice Gifford
💍 1921/6988

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
19

Motueka
Motueka

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Motueka

5192

8 April 1921

Regr. Scott, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	8 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Ernest Grosby	Bertha Alice Gifford
BDM Match (86%)	Kenneth Ernest Grooby	Beatrice Alice Gifford
	💍 1921/6988
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Motueka
Folio	5192
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Regr. Scott, Registrar

16 April 1921

Cuthbert Edward Last-Harris
Dorothy Leah Checker

Cuthbert Edward Last-Harris
Dorothy Leah Checker
💍 1921/6989

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
22

Motueka
Motueka

1 day
22 years

Church of Christ, Motueka

5193

18 April 1921

Rev. John George Price, Church of Christ

No	8
Date of Notice	16 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cuthbert Edward Last-Harris	Dorothy Leah Checker
	💍 1921/6989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence	1 day	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Motueka
Folio	5193
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John George Price, Church of Christ

30 April 1921

Walter Thomas Burchfield
Clymena Elizabeth Franklin

Walter Thomas Burchfield
Clymena Elizabeth Franklyn
💍 1921/6990

Bachelor
Spinster, Divorced (Decree absolute made 4th March 1921)

Miner
Domestic Duties

37
33

Motueka
Riwaka

1 day
1 year

Residence of Mr J. W. Hobb, Riwaka

5194

30 April 1921

Rev. J. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Burchfield	Clymena Elizabeth Franklin
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Thomas Burchfield	Clymena Elizabeth Franklyn
	💍 1921/6990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster, Divorced (Decree absolute made 4th March 1921)
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Riwaka
Length of Residence	1 day	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr J. W. Hobb, Riwaka
Folio	5194
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Harvey, Presbyterian

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).