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 1349

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 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

2 July 1921

Eharama Kamau
Ueta Hanita

Eparaima Kamau
Neta Hamita
💍 1921/4108

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

36
26

Hastings
Hastings

36 years
6 years

Registrars Office

7325

2 July 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	78
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eharama Kamau	Ueta Hanita
BDM Match (84%)	Eparaima Kamau	Neta Hamita
	💍 1921/4108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	36 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office
Folio	7325
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

5 July 1921

Percy Lewis Ireland
Phyllis Ruby Ashman

Percy Lewis Ireland
Phyllis Ruby Ashman
💍 1921/4116

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
20

Havelock W
Waipawa

3 days

Presbyterian Church Havelock Nth

7326

Ellen Black (Lawfully Appointed Guardian)

5 July 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Lewis Ireland	Phyllis Ruby Ashman
	💍 1921/4116
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Havelock W	Waipawa
Length of Residence	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Havelock Nth
Folio	7326
Consent	Ellen Black (Lawfully Appointed Guardian)
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

9 July 1921

Richard Randoll Slade
Edith Mary Overend

Richard Randoll Slade
Edith May Overend
💍 1921/4127

Widower
Widow

Fruitgrower
Domestic duties

43
38

Havelock Nth
Havelock Nth

House of R.R. Slade, Lower Te Mata Rd.

7327

9 July 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	80
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Randoll Slade	Edith Mary Overend
BDM Match (97%)	Richard Randoll Slade	Edith May Overend
	💍 1921/4127
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Fruitgrower	Domestic duties
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Havelock Nth	Havelock Nth
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	House of R.R. Slade, Lower Te Mata Rd.
Folio	7327
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

11 July 1921

Thomas Henry Crawford
Alice Agnes Harper

Thomas Henry Crawford
Alice Agnes Harper
💍 1921/4134

Bachelor
Spinster

Farrier

27
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
14 years

Residence of Rev. A. H. Bean, Hastings

7328

11 July 1921

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	81
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Crawford	Alice Agnes Harper
	💍 1921/4134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farrier
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. H. Bean, Hastings
Folio	7328
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

13 July 1921

Andrew Kerr
Winnie Anne Sosland

Andrew Kerr
Minnie Anne Tosland
💍 1921/4135

Bachelor
Widow

Carpenter
Housekeeper

56
57

Hastings
Hastings

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrars Office Hastings

7329

13 July 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	82
Date of Notice	13 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Kerr	Winnie Anne Sosland
BDM Match (95%)	Andrew Kerr	Minnie Anne Tosland
	💍 1921/4135
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Carpenter	Housekeeper
Age	56	57
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hastings
Folio	7329
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

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).