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 2168

District of Wairau Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar B. B. Butcher

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

25 January 1921

John Moor Kelly
Eliza Ellen Huston Boon

John Moore Kelly
Eliza Ellen Houston Boon
💍 1921/9727

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic Duties

20
22

Blenheim
Blenheim

5 years
22 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/2417

Bessie Robson, Mother.

25 January 1921

Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Moor Kelly	Eliza Ellen Huston Boon
BDM Match (95%)	John Moore Kelly	Eliza Ellen Houston Boon
	💍 1921/9727
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic Duties
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	5 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2417
Consent	Bessie Robson, Mother.
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. O. Robb, Presbyterian

27 January 1921

Joseph Henry Bartlett
Elsie Mary Timms

Joseph Henry Bartlett
Elsie Mary Timms
💍 1921/9728

Bachelor
Spinster

Coach Driver
Home Duties

30
21

Blenheim
Blenheim

Life
Life

Church of the Nativity, Blenheim

21/2418

27 January 1921

Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	27 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Henry Bartlett	Elsie Mary Timms
	💍 1921/9728
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coach Driver	Home Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Blenheim	Blenheim
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Church of the Nativity, Blenheim
Folio	21/2418
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Ven. Arch. G. W. York, Church of England

29 January 1921

Edgar Squire
Jessie Pratt

Edgar Squire
Jessie Pratt
💍 1921/9729

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

32
26

Rapaura
Rapaura

32 years
1 week

Church of England, Rapaura

21/2419

29 January 1921

W. Wollstein, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edgar Squire	Jessie Pratt
	💍 1921/9729
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	32	26
Dwelling Place	Rapaura	Rapaura
Length of Residence	32 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Church of England, Rapaura
Folio	21/2419
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Wollstein, Church of England

1 February 1921

William Thomas
Ruby May Dent
'Rubie' pencilled above.

William Thomas
Rubie May Dent
💍 1921/9730

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Home Duties

29
26

Ashburton
Medway Hills

25 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church, Blenheim

21/2420

1 February 1921

Rev. E. T. King, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas	Ruby May Dent 'Rubie' pencilled above.
BDM Match (93%)	William Thomas	Rubie May Dent
	💍 1921/9730
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Home Duties
Age	29	26
Dwelling Place	Ashburton	Medway Hills
Length of Residence	25 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2420
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. T. King, Presbyterian

2 February 1921

Garth Roberts Gill
Flora Mabel Jellyman

Garth Roberts Gill
Flora Mabel Jellyman
💍 1921/9732

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Waitress

21
19

Havelock
Blenheim

18 months
7 days

Methodist Church, Blenheim

21/2421

Mabel Jellyman, Mother.

2 February 1921

Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

No	10
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Garth Roberts Gill	Flora Mabel Jellyman
	💍 1921/9732
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Waitress
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Havelock	Blenheim
Length of Residence	18 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Blenheim
Folio	21/2421
Consent	Mabel Jellyman, Mother.
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Greenslade, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).