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 2726

District of 30 June 1921 Quarter ending Kaiapoi Registrar A. S. Palmer

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

2 May 1921

James Edward Evans
Harriet Ann Atkinson

James Edward Evans
Harriet Ann Atkinson
💍 1921/7191

Widower
Widow

Nightwatchman
Domestic Duties

61
67

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

30 years
14 years

Residence of Mrs H. A. Atkinson, Raven St, Kaiapoi

5327

2 May 1921

Major J. E. Newbold, Salvationist

No	12
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Evans	Harriet Ann Atkinson
	💍 1921/7191
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Nightwatchman	Domestic Duties
Age	61	67
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	30 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs H. A. Atkinson, Raven St, Kaiapoi
Folio	5327
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Major J. E. Newbold, Salvationist

11 May 1921

Charles Henry Packwood
Elizabeth McGregor

Charles Henry Packwood
Elizabeth McGregor
💍 1921/7198

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

63
51

Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs B. McGregor, Kaiapoi

5328

11 May 1921

Rev A. Laishley, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	11 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Packwood	Elizabeth McGregor
	💍 1921/7198
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	63	51
Dwelling Place	Kaiapoi	Kaiapoi
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs B. McGregor, Kaiapoi
Folio	5328
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Laishley, Presbyterian

2 June 1921

Frank Aston Smith
Mary Catherine Brunton

Frank Aston Smith
Mary Catherine Brunton
💍 1921/7199

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Dressmaker

28
29

Woodend
New Brighton

28 years
9 years

Residence of Mr W. Anderson, Lonsdale St, New Brighton

5329

2 June 1921

Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist

No	14
Date of Notice	2 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Aston Smith	Mary Catherine Brunton
	💍 1921/7199
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Dressmaker
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Woodend	New Brighton
Length of Residence	28 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr W. Anderson, Lonsdale St, New Brighton
Folio	5329
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. R. Clark, Methodist

9 June 1921

Allan Palmer Smith
Mabel Evelyn Gainsford

Allan Palmer Smith
Mabel Evelyn Gainsford
💍 1921/7200

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
29

Woodend
Oxford

25 years
18 years

Presbyterian Church, Oxford

5330

9 June 1921

Rev W. Lewis, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	9 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Palmer Smith	Mabel Evelyn Gainsford
	💍 1921/7200
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Woodend	Oxford
Length of Residence	25 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Oxford
Folio	5330
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Lewis, Presbyterian

9 June 1921

Edward Lawrence Bailey
Katherine Sommer

Edward Lawrence Bailey
Katherine Sommer
💍 1921/7201

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
19

Eyretown
Fernside

23 years
19 years

Residence of Mrs E. J. Sommer, Fernside

5331

Eliza Jane Sommer, Mother

9 June 1921

Rev W. W. Howes, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	9 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Lawrence Bailey	Katherine Sommer
	💍 1921/7201
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Eyretown	Fernside
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs E. J. Sommer, Fernside
Folio	5331
Consent	Eliza Jane Sommer, Mother
Date of Certificate	9 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. W. Howes, 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).