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 Nelson Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar S. Tyson

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 Beattie
Evelyn Ilma Brough

Alan Joseph Beattie
Evelyn Ilma Brough
💍 1921/9801

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic duties

25
20

Nelson
Nelson

3 years
20 years

Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson

21/2491

Thomas Brough, father

21 March 1921

Rev. J. Wall, Church of Christ

No	30
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of Christ, Waimea Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2491
Consent	Thomas Brough, father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Wall, Church of Christ

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

20 years
5 months

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

21/2492

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	20 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2492
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

22 March 1921

William Lucre
Beatrice Waters

William Lucre
Beatrice Waters
💍 1921/9803

William Rowe
Beatrice Ivy Haig
💍 1921/7585

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

42
33

Nelson
Nelson

2 weeks
7 days

All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

21/2493

22 March 1921

Rev. H. Pring Rowe, Church of England

No	32
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	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	7 days
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2493
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Pring Rowe, Church of England

22 March 1921

Johannas Henrich Kortzen
Annie O'Donnell

Johannas Henerich Cortzen
Annie ODonnell
💍 1921/9804

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

20
23

Nelson
Nelson

8 years
21 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson

21/2494

Peter John Cortzen, father

22 March 1921

Rev. P. Day, Roman Catholic

No	33
Date of Notice	22 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Johannas Henrich Kortzen	Annie O'Donnell
BDM Match (93%)	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	21 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Manuka Street, Nelson
Folio	21/2494
Consent	Peter John Cortzen, father
Date of Certificate	22 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. 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

Nelson
Stratford

20 years
1 year

Christ church Cathedral, Nelson

21/2495

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	Nelson	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Christ church Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	21/2495
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).

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).