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 2309

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. J. Lyon

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

23 July 1921

Stanley Joseph Keychors
Beulah Annie Bradshaw

Stanley Joseph Peyehers
Beulah Annie Bradshaw
💍 1921/4390

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruiterer
Dressmaker

26
22

Nelson
Nelson

12 months
4 months

St. Marys Roman Catholic

7701

28 July 1921

Rev. Dr. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	80
Date of Notice	23 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Joseph Keychors	Beulah Annie Bradshaw
BDM Match (94%)	Stanley Joseph Peyehers	Beulah Annie Bradshaw
	💍 1921/4390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruiterer	Dressmaker
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	12 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St. Marys Roman Catholic
Folio	7701
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dr. H. Campbell, Roman Catholic

28 July 1921

Frederick William Oscar Smith
Esthers Ellen Gilbert

Frederick William Oscar Smith
Esther Ellen Gilbert
💍 1921/4401

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

59
43

Hope
Nelson

59 years
13 years

Baptist Church

7702

28 July 1921

Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

No	81
Date of Notice	28 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Oscar Smith	Esthers Ellen Gilbert
BDM Match (98%)	Frederick William Oscar Smith	Esther Ellen Gilbert
	💍 1921/4401
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	59	43
Dwelling Place	Hope	Nelson
Length of Residence	59 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	7702
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

29 July 1921

Frank Alfred Robins
Hannah Elizabeth Applegarth

Frank Alfred Robins
Hannah Elizabeth Applegate
💍 1921/3546

Widower (16th November 1919)
Spinster

Telegraphist
Telegraphist

30
23

Tahunanui
Nelson

8 years
11 months

St. Stephens Church

8189

29 July 1921

Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

No	82
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Alfred Robins	Hannah Elizabeth Applegarth
BDM Match (96%)	Frank Alfred Robins	Hannah Elizabeth Applegate
	💍 1921/3546
Condition	Widower (16th November 1919)	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Telegraphist
Age	30	23
Dwelling Place	Tahunanui	Nelson
Length of Residence	8 years	11 months
Marriage Place	St. Stephens Church
Folio	8189
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Rogers, Church of England

3 August 1921

Ernest Victor Vickers
Ivy Grace Thomson

Ernest Victor Stewart
Ivy Grace Thomson
💍 1921/4408

Bachelor
Spinster

Public Servant
Milliner

28
25

Nelson
Nelson

15 years
25 years

Baptist Church

7703

3 August 1921

Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

No	83
Date of Notice	3 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Victor Vickers	Ivy Grace Thomson
BDM Match (86%)	Ernest Victor Stewart	Ivy Grace Thomson
	💍 1921/4408
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Public Servant	Milliner
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	7703
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Baird, Baptist

5 August 1921

William Percival Annear
Ruth Winifred Allensburgh

William Percival Annear
Ruth Winifred Alborough
💍 1921/4409

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic

30
26

Motueka
Motueka

4 months

Methodist Church

7704

5 August 1921

Rev. J. E. Brown

No	84
Date of Notice	5 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percival Annear	Ruth Winifred Allensburgh
BDM Match (88%)	William Percival Annear	Ruth Winifred Alborough
	💍 1921/4409
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Motueka	Motueka
Length of Residence		4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	7704
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Brown

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).