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 2453

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton Registrar Howorth

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 May 1921

George Henderson
Lucy Husband

George Henderson
Lucy Husband
💍 1921/7147

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
56

Hinds
Maronan

9 years
18 months

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

5300

24 May 1921

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	24 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henderson	Lucy Husband
	💍 1921/7147
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	56
Dwelling Place	Hinds	Maronan
Length of Residence	9 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	5300
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

30 May 1921

Ernest Leslie Petterson
Janet Brodie

Ernest Leslie Petterson
Janet Brodie
💍 1921/7080

Bachelor
Spinster

Stoker
Domestic duties

53
52

Netherby
Netherby

3 months
5 months

Salvation Army Hall, Ashburton

5301

30 May 1921

J. H. Dixon, Staff Captain

No	47
Date of Notice	30 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Leslie Petterson	Janet Brodie
	💍 1921/7080
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stoker	Domestic duties
Age	53	52
Dwelling Place	Netherby	Netherby
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Ashburton
Folio	5301
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 May 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Dixon, Staff Captain

31 May 1921

Frederick Herbert Bailey
Isabel Knoke Marr

Frederick Herbert Bailey
Isabel Knox Marr
💍 1921/7091

Bachelor
Spinster

Presbyterian Missionary
Domestic duties

45
33

Motunau
Ashburton

5 weeks
3 weeks

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton

5302

31 May 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	31 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Herbert Bailey	Isabel Knoke Marr
BDM Match (94%)	Frederick Herbert Bailey	Isabel Knox Marr
	💍 1921/7091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Presbyterian Missionary	Domestic duties
Age	45	33
Dwelling Place	Motunau	Ashburton
Length of Residence	5 weeks	3 weeks
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Ashburton
Folio	5302
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

4 June 1921

John Small
Mary Gwendoline Dawson

John Small
Mary Gwendolin Dawson
💍 1921/7098

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

55
43

Wheatstone
Waterton

55 years
23 years

Church of England, Waterton

5303

4 June 1921

Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

No	49
Date of Notice	4 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Small	Mary Gwendoline Dawson
BDM Match (98%)	John Small	Mary Gwendolin Dawson
	💍 1921/7098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	55	43
Dwelling Place	Wheatstone	Waterton
Length of Residence	55 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Waterton
Folio	5303
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Barnett, Church of England

7 June 1921

John Edward March
Ethel May Houston

John Edward March
Ethel May Houston
💍 1921/7099

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

31
30

Waterton
Ashburton

31 years
30 years

St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton

5304

7 June 1921

Rev. J. F. Wiseman, Church of England

No	50
Date of Notice	7 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Edward March	Ethel May Houston
	💍 1921/7099
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Waterton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	31 years	30 years
Marriage Place	St Stephens Church of England, Ashburton
Folio	5304
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Wiseman, 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).