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 2399

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Hokitika Registrar A. H. Stuart

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

4 July 1921

Charles Edward Davies
Bridget Mary Kelly

Charles Edward Davies
Bridget Mary Kelly
💍 1921/4462

Bachelor
Spinster

Warder, Mental Hospital
Domestic duties

30
20

Awatuna
Awatuna

3 days
20 years

Roman Catholic church, Stafford.

7757

John Thomas Kelly

4 July 1921

Stephen Bonetto, Roman Catholic

No	21
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Davies	Bridget Mary Kelly
	💍 1921/4462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warder, Mental Hospital	Domestic duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Awatuna	Awatuna
Length of Residence	3 days	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic church, Stafford.
Folio	7757
Consent	John Thomas Kelly
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Stephen Bonetto, Roman Catholic

6 July 1921

William Kennedy Henderson
Rosina Wood

William Kennedy Henderson
Rosina Wood
💍 1921/4429

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer
Domestic duties

32
33

Hokitika
Hokitika

32 years
33 years

Saint Andrews' Presbyterian church.

7747

6 July 1921

P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian.

No	22
Date of Notice	6 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kennedy Henderson	Rosina Wood
	💍 1921/4429
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	32 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Saint Andrews' Presbyterian church.
Folio	7747
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1921
Officiating Minister	P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian.

15 July 1921

Charles Cecil Friend
Catherine Moynihan

Charles Cecil Friend
Catherine Moynihan
💍 1921/4430

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

31
28

Hokitika
Kokatahi

1 day
10 years

Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church.

7748

15 July 1921

J. A. Kennedy D. D., Roman Catholic.

No	23
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Cecil Friend	Catherine Moynihan
	💍 1921/4430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Kokatahi
Length of Residence	1 day	10 years
Marriage Place	Saint Mary's Roman Catholic Church.
Folio	7748
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. A. Kennedy D. D., Roman Catholic.

1 August 1921

William Thomas Cropp
Myra Clark

William Thomas Cropp
Myra Clark
💍 1921/4431

Colin William Matheson
Myra Clark
💍 1921/5241

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
22

Koiterangi

28 years

Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church. Hokitika.

7749

1 August 1921

P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian.

No	24
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Cropp	Myra Clark
	💍 1921/4431
BDM Match (64%)	Colin William Matheson	Myra Clark
	💍 1921/5241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Koiterangi
Length of Residence	28 years
Marriage Place	Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church. Hokitika.
Folio	7749
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	P. B. Fraser, Presbyterian.

4 August 1921

Robert Alan Shand
Ellen Maud Holmes

Robert Alan Shand
Ellen Maud Holmes
💍 1921/4432

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic duties

27
28

Hokitika
Hokitika

27 years
28 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages. Hokitika.

7750

4 August 1921

A. H. Stuart, Registrar.

No	25
Date of Notice	4 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Alan Shand	Ellen Maud Holmes
	💍 1921/4432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic duties
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Hokitika	Hokitika
Length of Residence	27 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages. Hokitika.
Folio	7750
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1921
Officiating Minister	A. H. Stuart, Registrar.

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).