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 3521

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Wyndham Registrar J. V. Hodge

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

6 January 1921

Norman Henderson Brown
Rosa Helen Akerman Hardy

Norman Henderson Brown
Rosa Helen Akerman Hardy
💍 1921/10248

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Nurse

32
33

Wyndham
Wyndham

1 day
3 weeks

Anglican Church

2894

6 January 1921

Rev. Al. Swainson, Anglican Priest

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Henderson Brown	Rosa Helen Akerman Hardy
	💍 1921/10248
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Nurse
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	1 day	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	2894
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Al. Swainson, Anglican Priest

5 February 1921

Andrew Thomson
Henrietta Sutcliffe Allan

Andrew Thomson
Henrietta Sutcliffe Allan
💍 1921/10250

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

40
25

Oware
Wyndham

17 years
5 years

Residence of Mr. Joseph Allan, Wyndham

2895

5 February 1921

Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

No	2
Date of Notice	5 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Thomson	Henrietta Sutcliffe Allan
	💍 1921/10250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	40	25
Dwelling Place	Oware	Wyndham
Length of Residence	17 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Joseph Allan, Wyndham
Folio	2895
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

14 March 1921

Leonard Victor Heydon
Edith Maud Glover

Leonard Victor Redvers Heydon
Edith Maud Glover
💍 1921/10251

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman
Domestic

19
22

Wyndham
Wyndham

3 days
3 days

Anglican Church

2896

Archie Taylor Heydon (father)

14 March 1921

Rev. Francis Vivian Fisher, Anglican Priest

No	3
Date of Notice	14 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Victor Heydon	Edith Maud Glover
BDM Match (86%)	Leonard Victor Redvers Heydon	Edith Maud Glover
	💍 1921/10251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman	Domestic
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	2896
Consent	Archie Taylor Heydon (father)
Date of Certificate	14 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Francis Vivian Fisher, Anglican Priest

8 March 1921

Roy David Bennie
Charlotte Mary Fenton

Boyd David Bennie
Charlotte Mary Fenton
💍 1921/10252

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic

19
20

Menzies Ferry
Menzies Ferry

1 year
1 year

Residence of Mr. John Fenton, Menzies Ferry

2897

John Bennie (guardian) and Martha Marion Fenton (mother)

8 March 1921

Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

No	4
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy David Bennie	Charlotte Mary Fenton
BDM Match (94%)	Boyd David Bennie	Charlotte Mary Fenton
	💍 1921/10252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Menzies Ferry	Menzies Ferry
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Fenton, Menzies Ferry
Folio	2897
Consent	John Bennie (guardian) and Martha Marion Fenton (mother)
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

15 March 1921

Francis Roy Martin
Sarah Isabel Mitchell

Francis Roy Martin
Sarah Isabel Mitchell
💍 1921/10253

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

26
27

Wyndham
Wyndham

3 days
Life

Residence of Mr. John Mitchell, Wyndham

2898

15 March 1921

Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

No	5
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Roy Martin	Sarah Isabel Mitchell
	💍 1921/10253
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wyndham	Wyndham
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Mitchell, Wyndham
Folio	2898
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Lopdell, Presbyterian Minister

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).