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 3311

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Tokomairiro Registrar A. Bowley

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

12 July 1921

Earnest John Gibb
Elizabeth Nicholl

Earnest John Gibb
Elizabeth Nicholl
💍 1921/4622

Bachelor
Spinster

Woollen Mill Employee
Woollen Mill Employee

31
23

Milton
Milton

7 years
15 years

Methodist Church, Milton

7941

12 July 1921

H Daniel, Methodist

No	21
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Earnest John Gibb	Elizabeth Nicholl
	💍 1921/4622
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woollen Mill Employee	Woollen Mill Employee
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	7 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Milton
Folio	7941
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	H Daniel, Methodist

18 July 1921

Francis James Bain
Rubina Mary Fahey

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Domestic Duties

25
19

Milton
Milton

8 months
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Milton

7942

Edward Fahey, Father

18 July 1921

M Howard, Roman Catholic

No	22
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis James Bain	Rubina Mary Fahey
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Domestic Duties
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	8 months	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Milton
Folio	7942
Consent	Edward Fahey, Father
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	M Howard, Roman Catholic

25 August 1921

Thomas Lean Mawson
Ellen West

Thomas Lean Mawson
Ellen West
💍 1921/4624

George Stanley Creed
Ellen West
💍 1921/3913

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
29

Milton
Milton

3 days
2 years

Residence of Mr James West, Milton

7943

25 August 1921

R A Chisholm, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	25 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Lean Mawson	Ellen West
	💍 1921/4624
BDM Match (60%)	George Stanley Creed	Ellen West
	💍 1921/3913
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr James West, Milton
Folio	7943
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 August 1921
Officiating Minister	R A Chisholm, Presbyterian

1 September 1921

Frank Gordon Allison
Elizabeth Jane Allan

Frank Gordon Allison
Elizabeth Jane Allan
💍 1921/4625

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Clarksville
Moneymore

24 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Milton

7944

1 September 1921

H Clark, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	1 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Gordon Allison	Elizabeth Jane Allan
	💍 1921/4625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Clarksville	Moneymore
Length of Residence	24 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Milton
Folio	7944
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 September 1921
Officiating Minister	H Clark, Presbyterian

5 September 1921

John Taylor
Margaret Leask Mitchell

John Taylor
Margaret Leask Mitchell
💍 1921/4627

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

27
26

Milton
Milton

1 Week
26 years

Residence of Mr Alexander Mitchell, Milton

7945

5 September 1921

H Clark, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	5 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Taylor	Margaret Leask Mitchell
	💍 1921/4627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Milton	Milton
Length of Residence	1 Week	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Alexander Mitchell, Milton
Folio	7945
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 September 1921
Officiating Minister	H Clark, 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).