Intentions to Marry, 1921 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840502, 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.

1921g contains pages 2691-3126, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2811

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Rangiora Registrar A. E. Hounsell

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

16 July 1921

Colin William Rene Campbell
Lizzie Hillyer

Colin William Rene Campbell
Lizzie Hillyer
💍 1921/4510

Divorced (decree absolute 30 May 1920)
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

31
20

Rangiora
Rangiora

7 days
8 months

Office of the Registrar, Rangiora

7805

Elizabeth Hillyer, mother

18 July 1921

A. E. Hounsell, Registrar

No	22
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin William Rene Campbell	Lizzie Hillyer
	💍 1921/4510
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute 30 May 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	7 days	8 months
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Rangiora
Folio	7805
Consent	Elizabeth Hillyer, mother
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	A. E. Hounsell, Registrar

25 July 1921

Thomas James Kearney
Annie Susan Casserley

Thomas James Kearney
Annie Susan Casserley
💍 1921/4511

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
School Teacher

32
24

Christchurch
Rangiora

6 years
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Rangiora

7806

25 July 1921

Wm Hyland, Catholic

No	23
Date of Notice	25 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas James Kearney	Annie Susan Casserley
	💍 1921/4511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	School Teacher
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Rangiora
Length of Residence	6 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rangiora
Folio	7806
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Wm Hyland, Catholic

8 August 1921

Edward Snellex
Gertrude Isabella Smith

Edward Snellex
Gertrude Isabella Smith
💍 1921/4512

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

25
18

Fernside
Fernside

5 years
18 years

Anglican Church, Fernside

7807

Adam Smith, father

10 August 1921

Jas Hay, Anglican

No	24
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Snellex	Gertrude Isabella Smith
	💍 1921/4512
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Fernside	Fernside
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Fernside
Folio	7807
Consent	Adam Smith, father
Date of Certificate	10 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Jas Hay, Anglican

15 August 1921

Josiah Steven Hands
Mary Ann Smith

Josiah Steven Hands
Mary Ann Smith
💍 1921/4513

Widower (previous wife deceased 18.11.1918)
Widow (previous husband deceased 25.5.1913)

Labourer
Domestic Duties

60
47

Rangiora
Rangiora

38 years
15 years

Catholic Church, Rangiora

7808

15 August 1921

W. Hyland, Catholic

No	25
Date of Notice	15 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Josiah Steven Hands	Mary Ann Smith
	💍 1921/4513
Condition	Widower (previous wife deceased 18.11.1918)	Widow (previous husband deceased 25.5.1913)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	60	47
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	38 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Rangiora
Folio	7808
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Hyland, Catholic

7 September 1921

James Edward Coey
Agnes Hyde

James Edward Coey
Agnes Hyde
💍 1921/4514

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

26
19

Rangiora
Rangiora

10 years
5 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Rangiora

7809

Person in New Zealand having authority to give consent

21 September 1921

W. N. Howes, Presbyterian

No	26
Date of Notice	7 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Coey	Agnes Hyde
	💍 1921/4514
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Rangiora
Length of Residence	10 years	5 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Rangiora
Folio	7809
Consent	Person in New Zealand having authority to give consent
Date of Certificate	21 September 1921
Officiating Minister	W. N. Howes, Presbyterian

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).