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 2447

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton Registrar Dowdents

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

24 March 1921

Archibald John Campbell
Doris Sarah Ellen Knox Elliott

Archibald John Campbell
Doris Sarah Ellen Knox Elliott
💍 1921/1209

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

29
22

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 days
22 years

Presbyterian Church

2568

24 March 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald John Campbell	Doris Sarah Ellen Knox Elliott
	💍 1921/1209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	29	22
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	2568
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

28 March 1921

William Edward Powell
Sarah Isobel Barruthers

William Edward Powell
Sarah Isobel Carruthers
💍 1921/1210

Bachelor
Spinster

Office
Domestic duties

38
32

Fairton
Ashburton

12 years
8 years

2569

28 March 1921

A. E. White, Deputy Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	28 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward Powell	Sarah Isobel Barruthers
BDM Match (98%)	William Edward Powell	Sarah Isobel Carruthers
	💍 1921/1210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Office	Domestic duties
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Fairton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	12 years	8 years
Marriage Place
Folio	2569
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1921
Officiating Minister	A. E. White, Deputy Registrar

29 March 1921

John Francis Bedford
Mary Ann Tait

John Francis Bedford
Mary Ann Tait
💍 1921/1211

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman N.Z.R.
Domestic duties

31
23

Rock & Pillar
Ashburton

23 years

Methodist Church, Manning Square

2570

29 March 1921

Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

No	23
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Bedford	Mary Ann Tait
	💍 1921/1211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman N.Z.R.	Domestic duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Rock & Pillar	Ashburton
Length of Residence		23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Manning Square
Folio	2570
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Peters, Methodist

30 March 1921

Robert Johnston
Helen Elizabeth Karson

Robert Johnston
Helen Elizabeth Carson
💍 1921/1213

Robert Johnston
Daisy Sylvina Florence Brannan
💍 1921/7142

Widower
Widow

Retired farmer
Domestic duties

63
46

Ashburton
Ashburton

Presbyterian Church

2571

30 March 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	30 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Johnston	Helen Elizabeth Karson
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Johnston	Helen Elizabeth Carson
	💍 1921/1213
BDM Match (63%)	Robert Johnston	Daisy Sylvina Florence Brannan
	💍 1921/7142
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Retired farmer	Domestic duties
Age	63	46
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	2571
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

30 March 1921

Samuel Corbett
Beatrice Maria Jones

Samuel Corbett
Beatrice Maria Jones
💍 1921/1214

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
30

Wakanui
Rakaia

33 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church, Mayfield

2572

30 March 1921

Rev. John Johnston, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	30 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Corbett	Beatrice Maria Jones
	💍 1921/1214
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	30
Dwelling Place	Wakanui	Rakaia
Length of Residence	33 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Mayfield
Folio	2572
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Johnston, 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).