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 2443

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton Registrar Corowite

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

15 January 1921

John Joseph O'Grady
Catherine Smith

John Joseph O'Grady
Catherine Smith
💍 1921/9859

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

34
36

Winchmore
Ashburton

34 years
36 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2548

15 January 1921

Very Rev. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph O'Grady	Catherine Smith
	💍 1921/9859
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	34	36
Dwelling Place	Winchmore	Ashburton
Length of Residence	34 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2548
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

15 January 1921

Francis Martin
Anne Marie McKay

Francis Martin
Annie Marie McKay
💍 1921/9860

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
domestic duties

56
56

Martinborough
Ashburton

56 years
56 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

2549

15 January 1921

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Martin	Anne Marie McKay
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Martin	Annie Marie McKay
	💍 1921/9860
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	domestic duties
Age	56	56
Dwelling Place	Martinborough	Ashburton
Length of Residence	56 years	56 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	2549
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

15 January 1921

Peter Fahy
Margaret Mary Dwyer

Peter Fahy
Margaret Mary Dwyer
💍 1921/9861

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

32
31

Ashburton
Elgin

14 days
31 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2550

15 January 1921

Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Fahy	Margaret Mary Dwyer
	💍 1921/9861
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Elgin
Length of Residence	14 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2550
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. J. J. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

15 January 1921

Nicholas John Carney
Anne McGinn

Nicholas John Carney
Annie McGuinn
💍 1921/9862

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
domestic duties

43
25

Ashburton
Oxford

7 days
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton

2551

15 January 1921

Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, R.C.

No	4
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nicholas John Carney	Anne McGinn
BDM Match (92%)	Nicholas John Carney	Annie McGuinn
	💍 1921/9862
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	domestic duties
Age	43	25
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Oxford
Length of Residence	7 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ashburton
Folio	2551
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Very Rev. Dean O'Donnell, R.C.

15 January 1921

Angus George Hutchison
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Smith

Angus George Hutchison
Sarah Ann Elizabeth Smith
💍 1921/1201

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
domestic duties

33
36

Methven
Ashburton

3 days
36 years

Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

2552

15 January 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus George Hutchison	Sarah Ann Elizabeth Smith
	💍 1921/1201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	domestic duties
Age	33	36
Dwelling Place	Methven	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	36 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	2552
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, 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).