Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840499, 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.

1921d contains pages 1317-1734, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1335

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

24 January 1921

Richard McLean
Ellen Mary Jensen

Richard McLean
Ellen Mary Jensen
💍 1921/9357

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Assistant
Domestic Duties

36
24

Hastings
Hastings

3 weeks
2 weeks

Presbyterian Church Hastings

1993

24 January 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard McLean	Ellen Mary Jensen
	💍 1921/9357
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	36	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	1993
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

25 January 1921

Thomas Paterson Short
Caroline Marshall

Thomas Paterson Short
Caroline Marshall
💍 1921/9358

Widower
Spinster

Govt. Meat Inspector
Domestic Duties

42
36

Hastings
Hastings

14 years

Presbyterian Church Havelock St.

1994

27 January 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Paterson Short	Caroline Marshall
	💍 1921/9358
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Govt. Meat Inspector	Domestic Duties
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Havelock St.
Folio	1994
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

25 January 1921

James Pitcaithly Radcliffe
Margaret Sinclair

James Pitcaithly Radcliffe
Margaret Sinclair
💍 1921/9360

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic Duties

31
22

Hastings
Hastings

14 months
22 years

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

1995

25 January 1921

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	13
Date of Notice	25 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Pitcaithly Radcliffe	Margaret Sinclair
	💍 1921/9360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	1995
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

31 January 1921

William Arthur Albert Saunders
Mabel Heron

William Arthur Albert Saunders
Mabel Heron
💍 1921/9361

Bachelor
Spinster

Drover
Domestic Duties

25
21

Hastings
Hastings

1 week
1 week

Presbyterian Manse Hastings

1996

31 January 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Albert Saunders	Mabel Heron
	💍 1921/9361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drover	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Hastings
Folio	1996
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

31 January 1921

Stephen Mathews
Mary Kershaw

Stephen Mathews
Mary Kershaw
💍 1921/9362

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

22
22

Waimarama
Waimarama

2 years
8 years

Registrar's Office Hastings

1997

31 January 1921

Robert Brathwaite

No	15
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stephen Mathews	Mary Kershaw
	💍 1921/9362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Waimarama	Waimarama
Length of Residence	2 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	1997
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

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).