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 2311

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar E. J. Fyson

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

27 September 1921

John Harmond
Georgina Smith

John Carmont
Georgina Smith
💍 1921/4414

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

44
33

Nelson
Nelson

5 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

7709

27 September 1921

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	27 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Harmond	Georgina Smith
BDM Match (92%)	John Carmont	Georgina Smith
	💍 1921/4414
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	44	33
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	7709
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

27 September 1921

William Edward White
Florence Maude Seaton

William Edward White
Florence Maude Seaton
💍 1921/4391

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser and Tobacconist
Dressmaker

29 years
17 years

Nelson
Nelson

29 years
17 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

7710

Florence Maude Seaton's mother (implied by location of entry, but text is illegible/missing specific relation)

27 September 1921

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	91
Date of Notice	27 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward White	Florence Maude Seaton
	💍 1921/4391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser and Tobacconist	Dressmaker
Age	29 years	17 years
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	29 years	17 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	7710
Consent	Florence Maude Seaton's mother (implied by location of entry, but text is illegible/missing specific relation)
Date of Certificate	27 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

27 September 1921

Charles Gilbert Wells
Alice Evelyn McLean

Charles Gilbert Wells
Alice Evelyn McLachlan
💍 1921/4392

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

28 years
28 years

Nelson
Nelson

28 years
28 years

St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

7711

27 September 1921

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	92
Date of Notice	27 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Gilbert Wells	Alice Evelyn McLean
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Gilbert Wells	Alice Evelyn McLachlan
	💍 1921/4392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	28 years	28 years
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	28 years	28 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	7711
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

29 September 1921

George Henry Rollinson
Nancy Brown

George Henry Rollinson
Nancy Brown
💍 1921/4393

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

23
19

Matai Valley
Matai Valley

18 months
13 months

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street

7712

Thomas Rollinson (Father of Groom)

29 September 1921

Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

No	93
Date of Notice	29 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Rollinson	Nancy Brown
	💍 1921/4393
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Matai Valley	Matai Valley
Length of Residence	18 months	13 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street
Folio	7712
Consent	Thomas Rollinson (Father of Groom)
Date of Certificate	29 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. L. Blamires, Methodist

29 September 1921

George Granville Wilson
Vera Irene Webley

George Granville Wilson
Vera Irene Webley
💍 1921/4394

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
25

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

7713

29 September 1921

Rev. G. H. Gibb, Presbyterian

No	94
Date of Notice	29 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Granville Wilson	Vera Irene Webley
	💍 1921/4394
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	7713
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. H. Gibb, 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).