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 3305

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Tokomairiro Registrar P. D. Maguire

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

15 January 1921

James Higgie
Margaret Ellen Paskell

James Higgie
Margaret Ellen Paskell
💍 1921/10208

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
19

Otokia
Glenore

23 years
19 years

Residence of Mr Philip Paskell, Glenore

2780

Philip Paskell, Father

15 January 1921

H. Daniel, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Higgie	Margaret Ellen Paskell
	💍 1921/10208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Otokia	Glenore
Length of Residence	23 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Philip Paskell, Glenore
Folio	2780
Consent	Philip Paskell, Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Daniel, Methodist

18 January 1921

Benjamin Watson Jackson
Margaret Clark Campbell Hill

Benjamin Watson Jackson
Margaret Clark Campbell Hill
💍 1921/10209

Bachelor
Spinster

Miner
Domestic Duties

27
19

Milton
Milton

7 months
3 years

Residence of Mr Joseph Hill, Milton

2781

Joseph Hill, Father

18 January 1921

H. Clark, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Benjamin Watson Jackson	Margaret Clark Campbell Hill
	💍 1921/10209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	7 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Joseph Hill, Milton
Folio	2781
Consent	Joseph Hill, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Clark, Presbyterian

29 January 1921

Thomas Henry Callaghan
Barbara Hand

Thomas Henry Callaghan
Barbara Hand
💍 1921/10210

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Duties

29
28

Milton
Milton

1 week
28 years

Roman Catholic Church, Milton

2782

29 January 1921

M. Howard, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Callaghan	Barbara Hand
	💍 1921/10210
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 week	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	2782
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	M. Howard, Roman Catholic

31 January 1921

Angus Blair Crickett
Myrtle Eileen McGuire

Angus Blair Crickett
Myrtle Eileen McGuire
💍 1921/10211

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Bank Clerk

31
23

Milton
Milton

3 days
1 month

St John's Anglican Church, Milton

2783

31 January 1921

J. C. Small, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Angus Blair Crickett	Myrtle Eileen McGuire
	💍 1921/10211
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Bank Clerk
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	3 days	1 month
Marriage Place	St John's Anglican Church, Milton
Folio	2783
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. C. Small, Anglican

7 February 1921

Hugh Rodger McAuley
Mary Osborne McPherson

Hugh Rodger McAuley
Mary Osborne McPherson
💍 1921/10212

Bachelor
Widow

Steward
Boarding House keeper

36
36

Milton
Milton

1 year
7 months

Residence of Mrs Mary Osborne McPherson, Milton

2784

7 February 1921

H. Daniel, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Rodger McAuley	Mary Osborne McPherson
	💍 1921/10212
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Steward	Boarding House keeper
Age	36	36
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 year	7 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Mary Osborne McPherson, Milton
Folio	2784
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Daniel, Methodist

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).