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 2319

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Nelson Registrar S. Fyom

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

126

22 December 1921

William James Parks
Lulu Kidson

William James Parks
Lulu Kidson
💍 1921/4005

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Clerk
Domestic duties

22
25

Nelson
Nelson

1 day
1 year

All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson

10246

22 December 1921

Rev. J. King, Church of England

No	126
Date of Notice	22 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Parks	Lulu Kidson
	💍 1921/4005
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	1 day	1 year
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Vanguard Street, Nelson
Folio	10246
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. King, Church of England

127

23 December 1921

James William Thomas
Gracie Adelaide Waddell

James William Thomas Williams
Gracie Adelaide Waddell
💍 1921/4006

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

23
22

Nelson
Nelson

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson

10247

23 December 1921

Rev. A. R. Gill, Presbyterian

No	127
Date of Notice	23 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Thomas	Gracie Adelaide Waddell
BDM Match (85%)	James William Thomas Williams	Gracie Adelaide Waddell
	💍 1921/4006
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nile Street, Nelson
Folio	10247
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Gill, Presbyterian

128

24 December 1921

Henry Hammond
Amelia Emily Wilkins

Henry Hammond
Amelia Emily Wilkins
💍 1921/4007

Bachelor
Spinster

Waterside worker
Domestic

43
39

Wellington
Nelson

14 years
14 days

Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson

10248

24 December 1921

Rev. H. P. Blamires, Methodist

No	128
Date of Notice	24 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Hammond	Amelia Emily Wilkins
	💍 1921/4007
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Waterside worker	Domestic
Age	43	39
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Nelson
Length of Residence	14 years	14 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hardy Street, Nelson
Folio	10248
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. P. Blamires, Methodist

129

24 December 1921

George Edwin Waterworth
Hilarius Dorothy Snodgrass

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

Napier
Nelson

3 years
3 years

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

24 December 1921

Rev. G. B. Weeks, Church of England

No	129
Date of Notice	24 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edwin Waterworth	Hilarius Dorothy Snodgrass
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Nelson
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Weeks, Church of England

130

24 December 1921

Regston Jourland
Stella Mary Victoria Coledo (known as Solomon)

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

23
19

Nelson
Nelson

10 years
10 years

Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson

109

E. M. Solomon, Guardian

24 December 1921

Rev. G. B. Weeks, Church of England

No	130
Date of Notice	24 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Regston Jourland	Stella Mary Victoria Coledo (known as Solomon)
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Nelson	Nelson
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Christchurch Cathedral, Nelson
Folio	109
Consent	E. M. Solomon, Guardian
Date of Certificate	24 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. 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).