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 2297

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. G. Horn

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

21 March 1921

Alan Joseph Heaveh
Beathie Evelyn Alma Brough

Alan Joseph Beattie
Evelyn Ilma Brough
💍 1921/9801

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic duties

25
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
2 years

Church of Christ, Harmea Street

2431

Shuman Brough, father

21 March 1921

Rev. J. H. Kerr, Church of Christ, Motueka

No	30
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alan Joseph Heaveh	Beathie Evelyn Alma Brough
BDM Match (70%)	Alan Joseph Beattie	Evelyn Ilma Brough
	💍 1921/9801
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Harmea Street
Folio	2431
Consent	Shuman Brough, father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Kerr, Church of Christ, Motueka

21 March 1921

Vernon Noel James
Helen Gordon Roig

Vernon Noel James
Helen Gordon Doig
💍 1921/9802

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

25
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
5 months

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Motueka

2432

21 March 1921

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Noel James	Helen Gordon Roig
BDM Match (97%)	Vernon Noel James	Helen Gordon Doig
	💍 1921/9802
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Motueka
Folio	2432
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

22 March 1921

William Fuere
Beatrice Hakers

William Lucre
Beatrice Waters
💍 1921/9803

William Rowe
Beatrice Ivy Haig
💍 1921/7585

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
33

Nelson
Nelson

2 weeks
4 days

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

2433

22 March 1921

Rev. H. Curry Lowe, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fuere	Beatrice Hakers
BDM Match (86%)	William Lucre	Beatrice Waters
	💍 1921/9803
BDM Match (61%)	William Rowe	Beatrice Ivy Haig
	💍 1921/7585
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	42	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	2 weeks	4 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	2433
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Curry Lowe, Church of England

22 March 1921

Johannas Henrich Kortgen
Annie O'Donnell

Johannas Henerich Cortzen
Annie ODonnell
💍 1921/9804

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
23

Nelson
Nelson

8 years
2 years

Roman Catholic

2434

22 March 1921

Rev. F. Day, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johannas Henrich Kortgen	Annie O'Donnell
BDM Match (91%)	Johannas Henerich Cortzen	Annie ODonnell
	💍 1921/9804
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic
Folio	2434
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Day, Roman Catholic

23 March 1921

Reginald Vincent Day
Sybil Morris Satchell

Reginald Vincent Kay
Sybil Morris Satchell
💍 1921/9805

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic duties

26
26

Stratford
Nelson

1 year
1 year

Christchurch Cathedral

2435

23 March 1921

Rev. G. E. Weeks, Church of England

No	34
Date of Notice	23 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Vincent Day	Sybil Morris Satchell
BDM Match (98%)	Reginald Vincent Kay	Sybil Morris Satchell
	💍 1921/9805
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral
Folio	2435
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. E. Weeks, 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).

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).