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 1343

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar Robert 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

23 April 1921

William Mallock Tweedie
Elsarina Pilcher

William Malloch Tweedie
Elsarina Pilcher
💍 1921/6469

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

29
24

Napier
Hastings

29 years
26 years

Presbyterian Manse

4747

23 April 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	51
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mallock Tweedie	Elsarina Pilcher
BDM Match (98%)	William Malloch Tweedie	Elsarina Pilcher
	💍 1921/6469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	29 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse
Folio	4747
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

23 April 1921

Henry Charles Picholls
Ellen Edenbrow

Henry Charles Nicholls
Ellen Edenbrow
💍 1921/6470

Widower
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

42
37

Hastings
Hastings

28 years 8 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

4748

23 April 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	52
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Charles Picholls	Ellen Edenbrow
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Charles Nicholls	Ellen Edenbrow
	💍 1921/6470
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	42	37
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	28 years 8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	4748
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

26 April 1921

Allan Blyde Ferrick
Marguerita Mary Gertrude Kirby

Allan Clyde Ferrick
Marguerita Mary Gertrude Kirby
💍 1921/6471

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Clerk

28
23

Hastings
Hastings

2 days
1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4749

26 April 1921

Rev. Father Fraher, Catholic

No	53
Date of Notice	26 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Blyde Ferrick	Marguerita Mary Gertrude Kirby
BDM Match (97%)	Allan Clyde Ferrick	Marguerita Mary Gertrude Kirby
	💍 1921/6471
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Clerk
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 days	1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4749
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Fraher, Catholic

27 April 1921

Terrance George Thew
Emma Sarah Lee

Terrance George Thew
Emma Sarah Lee
💍 1921/6472

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
8 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

4750

27 April 1921

Rev. O. Gibson, Anglican

No	54
Date of Notice	27 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Terrance George Thew	Emma Sarah Lee
	💍 1921/6472
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	4750
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. O. Gibson, Anglican

30 April 1921

Frederick George Saunders
Alice May Burn

Frederick George Saunders
Alice May Burne
💍 1921/6605

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
21

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
7 years

Baptist Church, Hastings

4751

30 April 1921

Rev. A. E. Eldridge

No	55
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick George Saunders	Alice May Burn
BDM Match (97%)	Frederick George Saunders	Alice May Burne
	💍 1921/6605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hastings
Folio	4751
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Eldridge

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).