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 2444

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Ashburton Registrar Norwoodto

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

31 January 1921

Walter James Parfoot
Annie Velvin Smith

Walter James Parfoot
Annie Velvin Smith
💍 1921/1212

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach builder
domestic duties

23
31

Ashburton
Ashburton

3 days
3 days

Church of Christ Ashburton

2553

31 January 1921

Rev J M Lines, Church of Christ

No	6
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter James Parfoot	Annie Velvin Smith
	💍 1921/1212
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach builder	domestic duties
Age	23	31
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of Christ Ashburton
Folio	2553
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J M Lines, Church of Christ

31 January 1921

Peter Barrie
Amelia McKelvy

Peter Barrie
Amelia McKelvy
💍 1921/1219

Bachelor
Divorced

Farmer
domestic duties

30
31

Tinwald
Ashburton

3 months
4 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

2554

31 January 1921

H. W. White, Registrar

No	7
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Barrie	Amelia McKelvy
	💍 1921/1219
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	30	31
Dwelling Place	Tinwald	Ashburton
Length of Residence	3 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	2554
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. W. White, Registrar

31 January 1921

Henry Nat Williams
Elizabeth Burke

Henry Net Williams
Elizabeth Burke
💍 1921/1220

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

28
29

Ashburton
Ashburton

2 months
1 week

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

2555

31 January 1921

H. W. White, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Nat Williams	Elizabeth Burke
BDM Match (97%)	Henry Net Williams	Elizabeth Burke
	💍 1921/1220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Ashburton
Length of Residence	2 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	2555
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. W. White, Registrar

8 February 1921

Cyril Herbert Clicks
Joy Hughes

Cyril Herbert Childs
Ivy Hughes
💍 1921/1221

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
domestic duties

29
21

Ashburton
Allenton

29 years

Office of the Registrar Ashburton

2556

8 February 1921

H. W. White, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	8 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Herbert Clicks	Joy Hughes
BDM Match (83%)	Cyril Herbert Childs	Ivy Hughes
	💍 1921/1221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	domestic duties
Age	29	21
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Allenton
Length of Residence	29 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Ashburton
Folio	2556
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1921
Officiating Minister	H. W. White, Registrar

14 February 1921

Thomas Stapleton
Lily Rouse Bacon

Thomas Stapleton
Lily Louise Capon
💍 1921/1222

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
domestic duties

23
17

Lowcliffe
Allenton

2 years

Baptist Church Ashburton

2557

Arthur Bacon, father of bride

14 February 1921

Rev. B. S. Matthews, Baptist

No	10
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stapleton	Lily Rouse Bacon
BDM Match (88%)	Thomas Stapleton	Lily Louise Capon
	💍 1921/1222
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Lowcliffe	Allenton
Length of Residence		2 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church Ashburton
Folio	2557
Consent	Arthur Bacon, father of bride
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. S. Matthews, Baptist

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).