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 3400

District of 31 December 1921 Quarter ending Gore Registrar James Boyne

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

9 December 1921

James Patrick Hand
Jane Mathieson Reir

James Patrick Hand
Jane Mathieson Keir
💍 1921/8708

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic

24
23

Gore
Gore

3 days
3 days

Roman Catholic Church, Gore

10506

12 December 1921

Rev. P. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

No	54
Date of Notice	9 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Patrick Hand	Jane Mathieson Reir
BDM Match (97%)	James Patrick Hand	Jane Mathieson Keir
	💍 1921/8708
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Gore
Folio	10506
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. O'Donnell, Roman Catholic

25 October 1921

Lewis Henry Marshall
Maggie Bartlett McWilliams

Lewis Henry Marshall
Maggie Bartlett McWilliams
💍 1921/8706

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

45
41

Puherau
Dunedin

11 years
Life

Presbyterian Manse, Gore

10504

25 October 1921

J. McThoy, Presbyterian

No	55
Date of Notice	25 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Henry Marshall	Maggie Bartlett McWilliams
	💍 1921/8706
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	45	41
Dwelling Place	Puherau	Dunedin
Length of Residence	11 years	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Gore
Folio	10504
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1921
Officiating Minister	J. McThoy, Presbyterian

10 November 1921

Neil McKed
Lizzie Barclay

Neil McLeod
Lizzie Barclay
💍 1921/8707

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

39
31

Mataura
Gore

16 years
3 days

Presbyterian Church, Gore

10505

15 November 1921

Rev. McMaster, Presbyterian

No	56
Date of Notice	10 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Neil McKed	Lizzie Barclay
BDM Match (91%)	Neil McLeod	Lizzie Barclay
	💍 1921/8707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	39	31
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Gore
Length of Residence	16 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Gore
Folio	10505
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. McMaster, Presbyterian

10 December 1921

Raymond Royes Todd
Edith Catherine Spooner

Raymond Royse Todd
Edith Catherine Spooner
💍 1921/8709

Bachelor
Spinster

Employee N.Z. Railways
Domestic

22
21

Mataura
Gore

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Gore

10507

14 December 1921

Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

No	58
Date of Notice	10 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Royes Todd	Edith Catherine Spooner
BDM Match (94%)	Raymond Royse Todd	Edith Catherine Spooner
	💍 1921/8709
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Employee N.Z. Railways	Domestic
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Mataura	Gore
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gore
Folio	10507
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

10 December 1921

William Hamilton Park
Sylvia Pearl Gutty

William Hamilton Park
Sylvia Pearl Tutty
💍 1921/8710

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
24

Gore
Gore

3 years
19 years

Church of England, Gore

10508

14 December 1921

Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

No	59
Date of Notice	10 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hamilton Park	Sylvia Pearl Gutty
BDM Match (97%)	William Hamilton Park	Sylvia Pearl Tutty
	💍 1921/8710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Gore	Gore
Length of Residence	3 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Gore
Folio	10508
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. A. Hamblett, Anglican

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).