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 1351

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar R. B. 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

25 July 1921

James Elms Bird
Doris Emily Carswell

James Elms Hird
Doris Emily Carswell
💍 1921/4117

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
24

Hastings
Hastings

1 week
4 years

Presbyterian Church

7335

25 July 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	25 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Elms Bird	Doris Emily Carswell
BDM Match (97%)	James Elms Hird	Doris Emily Carswell
	💍 1921/4117
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 week	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	7335
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

29 July 1921

Cyril Joseph Lloyd Buchanan
Nellie Dixon

Cyril Joseph Lloyd
Nellie Dixon Buchanan
💍 1921/4118

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Shop Assistant

23
23

Hastings
Hastings

12 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church

7336

29 July 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	29 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Joseph Lloyd Buchanan	Nellie Dixon
BDM Match (62%)	Cyril Joseph Lloyd	Nellie Dixon Buchanan
	💍 1921/4118
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Shop Assistant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	7336
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

1 August 1921

Alfred James Ellingham
Florence Hooper

Alfred James Ellingham
Florence Hooper
💍 1921/4119

Widower
Spinster

Hotel Keeper
Milliner

54
43

Hastings
Hastings

30 years
1 week

St. Matthew's Church

7337

1 August 1921

Rev. R. S. Hall, Anglican

No	90
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Ellingham	Florence Hooper
	💍 1921/4119
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Keeper	Milliner
Age	54	43
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	30 years	1 week
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	7337
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Hall, Anglican

1 August 1921

Francis Vivian Theodore Boyle
Chloe Pauline Chittenden

Francis Vivian Theodore Boyle
Chloris Pauleen Chittenden
💍 1921/4120

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

18
22

Hastings
Hastings

7 months
22 years

Registrar's Office

7338

Benjamin Boyle (Father)

1 August 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	91
Date of Notice	1 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Vivian Theodore Boyle	Chloe Pauline Chittenden
BDM Match (88%)	Francis Vivian Theodore Boyle	Chloris Pauleen Chittenden
	💍 1921/4120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	18	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 months	22 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	7338
Consent	Benjamin Boyle (Father)
Date of Certificate	1 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

2 August 1921

Alexander Norman Z. Lohs
Patience Morrison

Alexander Norman Zohs
Patience Morrison
💍 1921/4121

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
23

Hastings
Hastings

8 years

Church of England

7339

2 August 1921

Rev. R. S. Hall, Anglican

No	92
Date of Notice	2 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Norman Z. Lohs	Patience Morrison
BDM Match (94%)	Alexander Norman Zohs	Patience Morrison
	💍 1921/4121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence		8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	7339
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. S. Hall, 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).