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 2455

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton

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

13 July 1921

Henry Corbett
Myrtle Goodwin Duff

Henry Corbett
Myrtle Goodwin Duff
💍 1921/4464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
23

Mayfield
Mayfield

7 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church Mayfield

7759

13 July 1921

Rev. A. J. Petrie, Church of England

No	56
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Corbett	Myrtle Goodwin Duff
	💍 1921/4464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Mayfield	Mayfield
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Mayfield
Folio	7759
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. J. Petrie, Church of England

18 July 1921

James Duncan Stewart
Marie Marjorie Dolan

James Duncan Stewart
Marie Marjorie Dolan
💍 1921/4441

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
19

Ashburton
Lowcliffe

2 years
6 years

Office of the Registrar

7760

Michael Joseph Dolan, father of minor

18 July 1921

Mr. W. H. White, Registrar

No	57
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Duncan Stewart	Marie Marjorie Dolan
	💍 1921/4441
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Lowcliffe
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar
Folio	7760
Consent	Michael Joseph Dolan, father of minor
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. H. White, Registrar

19 July 1921

John William Matthews Parsons
Margaret Annie Bruce

John William Matthew Parsons
Margaret Annie Bruce
💍 1921/4442

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
24

Eiffelton
Eiffelton

25 years
9 years

Barring Square Methodist Church Ashburton

7761

19 July 1921

Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

No	58
Date of Notice	19 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Matthews Parsons	Margaret Annie Bruce
BDM Match (98%)	John William Matthew Parsons	Margaret Annie Bruce
	💍 1921/4442
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Eiffelton	Eiffelton
Length of Residence	25 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Barring Square Methodist Church Ashburton
Folio	7761
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Liddell, Methodist

24 July 1921

Peter Leslie Locke
Aileen Mary Good

Peter Leslie
Aileen Amy Good
💍 1921/4443

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

35
19

Ashburton
Fairwald

35 years
19 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

7762

Thompson Wilson, Mother of Minor

29 July 1921

No	59
Date of Notice	24 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Leslie Locke	Aileen Mary Good
BDM Match (74%)	Peter Leslie	Aileen Amy Good
	💍 1921/4443
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	35	19
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Fairwald
Length of Residence	35 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	7762
Consent	Thompson Wilson, Mother of Minor
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister

29 July 1921

Robert Price
Emily Susan Beatty

Robert Grice
Emily Susan Beatty
💍 1921/4444

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
25

Seafield
Ryle

16 years
25 years

Presbyterian Manse Ashburton

7763

29 July 1921

Rev. George Miller, Presbyterian

No	60
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Price	Emily Susan Beatty
BDM Match (96%)	Robert Grice	Emily Susan Beatty
	💍 1921/4444
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	25
Dwelling Place	Seafield	Ryle
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Ashburton
Folio	7763
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 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).