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 1347

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar R. Brathwait

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

16 June 1921

Thomas William Patchett
Louie May Gosling

Thomas William Patchett
Louie May Gosling
💍 1921/6613

Widower
Divorced

Plumber
Domestic Duties

43
42

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
3 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

4767

16 June 1921

Robert Brathwait, Registrar

No	71
Date of Notice	16 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Patchett	Louie May Gosling
	💍 1921/6613
Condition	Widower	Divorced
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	4767
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwait, Registrar

24 June 1921

Joseph Esayo Giles
Margaret Tuoar Milligan

Joseph Mays Giles
Margaret Moar Milligan
💍 1921/6614

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
25

Hastings
Hastings

14 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4768

Daughter of Mrs Mulligan Palmerston North

24 June 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	24 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Esayo Giles	Margaret Tuoar Milligan
BDM Match (87%)	Joseph Mays Giles	Margaret Moar Milligan
	💍 1921/6614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence		14 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4768
Consent	Daughter of Mrs Mulligan Palmerston North
Date of Certificate	24 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

22 June 1921

Hugh Joseph Wilkes
Myrtle Ella Wilson

Hugh Joseph McKeesick
Myrtle Ella Nielson
💍 1921/6615

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic duties

24
22

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4769

23 June 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	73
Date of Notice	22 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Joseph Wilkes	Myrtle Ella Wilson
BDM Match (78%)	Hugh Joseph McKeesick	Myrtle Ella Nielson
	💍 1921/6615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4769
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

23 June 1921

William Drinkall
Mary Grant

William Drinkall
Mary Grant Sutherland
💍 1921/7495

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
26

Havelock North
Havelock North

10 years
6 years

St. Columba's Church, Havelock North

5782

23 June 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	74
Date of Notice	23 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Drinkall	Mary Grant
BDM Match (74%)	William Drinkall	Mary Grant Sutherland
	💍 1921/7495
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	10 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Columba's Church, Havelock North
Folio	5782
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

24 June 1921

Conway Richard Charles Ferguson
Iris Vernon

Conway Richard Charles Ferguson
Iris Vernon
💍 1921/6617

Bachelor
Spinster

Log Trucker
Domestic duties

23
21

Wanganui
Havelock North

4 months

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

1770

24 June 1921

Rev. Canon H. de Lean, Anglican

No	75
Date of Notice	24 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Conway Richard Charles Ferguson	Iris Vernon
	💍 1921/6617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Log Trucker	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Havelock North
Length of Residence		4 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	1770
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon H. de Lean, 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).