Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, 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.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3271

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Otepopo Registrar B. M. Griffith

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

5 November 1921

Henry Robertson
Ida Helen Ure

Henry Robertson
Ida Helen Ure
💍 1921/6292

Bachelor
Spinster

Carter
Domestic

26
21

Waianakarua
Herbert

2 years 9 months
life

Office of the Registrar, Herbert

10464

5 November 1921

B. M. Griffith, Registrar, Herbert

No	9
Date of Notice	5 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Robertson	Ida Helen Ure
	💍 1921/6292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carter	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Waianakarua	Herbert
Length of Residence	2 years 9 months	life
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Herbert
Folio	10464
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1921
Officiating Minister	B. M. Griffith, Registrar, Herbert

10 November 1921

John Herbert Rapson
Violet Alberta McLeod

John Herbert Rapson
Violet Alberta McLeod
💍 1921/6293

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

23
21

Maheno
Maheno

1 1/2 years
21 years

Residence of Bride's Parents, Maheno

10465

10 November 1921

Rev. E. W. Hunt, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	10 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Herbert Rapson	Violet Alberta McLeod
	💍 1921/6293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Maheno	Maheno
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's Parents, Maheno
Folio	10465
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hunt, Maheno, Presbyterian

12 December 1921

John Archibald Budge
Doris Evelyn Cammilla Brown

John Archibald Budge
Doris Evelyn Cammilla Brown
💍 1921/6294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
24

Herbert
Herbert

21 years
7 years

Dwelling of Mr. Wm. McMillan, Reay Farm, Herbert

10466

12 December 1921

Rev. P. G. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	12 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Budge	Doris Evelyn Cammilla Brown
	💍 1921/6294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Herbert	Herbert
Length of Residence	21 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Wm. McMillan, Reay Farm, Herbert
Folio	10466
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

14 December 1921

William Aitchison
Mary Amelia Minnie Keirton

William Aitchison
Mary Amelia Winnie Kirton
💍 1921/6295

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

38
44

Herbert
Herbert

38 years
30 years

Presbyterian Manse, Herbert

10467

14 December 1921

Rev. P. G. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	14 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Aitchison	Mary Amelia Minnie Keirton
BDM Match (96%)	William Aitchison	Mary Amelia Winnie Kirton
	💍 1921/6295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	38	44
Dwelling Place	Herbert	Herbert
Length of Residence	38 years	30 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Herbert
Folio	10467
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. G. Rennie, Herbert, Presbyterian

24 December 1921

Hamilton Robb
Susan May Douglas

Hamilton Robb
Susan May Douglas
💍 1921/6296

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

43
30

Sucholme
Maheno

24 years
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Maheno

10468

24 December 1921

Rev. E. W. Hunt, Maheno, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	24 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hamilton Robb	Susan May Douglas
	💍 1921/6296
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	43	30
Dwelling Place	Sucholme	Maheno
Length of Residence	24 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Maheno
Folio	10468
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Hunt, Maheno, 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).