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 1353

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

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

29 August 1921

Hubert Richard Watkins
Frances Hope Laune

Hubert Richard Watkins
Frances Hope Lawson
💍 1921/4128

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Carrier
Domestic duties

26
19

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
2 weeks

Methodist Church

7345

Charles Gordon Laune (Father)

27 August 1921

Rev. Angus H. Bean, Methodist

No	98
Date of Notice	29 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Richard Watkins	Frances Hope Laune
BDM Match (89%)	Hubert Richard Watkins	Frances Hope Lawson
	💍 1921/4128
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	7345
Consent	Charles Gordon Laune (Father)
Date of Certificate	27 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Angus H. Bean, Methodist

3 September 1921

Melville Cunningham
Grace Lenore Barber

Melville Cunningham
Grace Lenore Barber
💍 1921/3561

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

24 years
21

Mangaterere
Hastings

24 years
2 years

Havelock Road 181

7345

3 September 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	99
Date of Notice	3 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Melville Cunningham	Grace Lenore Barber
	💍 1921/3561
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	24 years	21
Dwelling Place	Mangaterere	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Havelock Road 181
Folio	7345
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

100

8 September 1921

Samuel Alderman Heads
Annie Louisa Heads

Samuel Alderman
Annie Louisa Meads
💍 1921/4129

Bachelor
Widow

Gardener
Domestic duties

70
63

Havelock North
Havelock North

4 years
10 August 1909

Queen Street 7346

7346

8 September 1921

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	100
Date of Notice	8 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Alderman Heads	Annie Louisa Heads
BDM Match (83%)	Samuel Alderman	Annie Louisa Meads
	💍 1921/4129
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Gardener	Domestic duties
Age	70	63
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 years	10 August 1909
Marriage Place	Queen Street 7346
Folio	7346
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

101

19 September 1921

Roy Hugh Scott
Eileen Reston

Roy Hugh Scott
Eileen Reston
💍 1921/4130

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Saleswoman

25
26

Hastings
Hastings

25 years
26 years

Catholic Church

7347

19 September 1921

Rev. Father Mahoney, Catholic

No	101
Date of Notice	19 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Hugh Scott	Eileen Reston
	💍 1921/4130
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	7347
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahoney, Catholic

102

23 September 1921

John Henry Charles Chapman
Winifred Galbraith

John Henry Charles Chapman
Winifred Galbraith
💍 1921/4131

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

23
22

Hastings
Hastings

23 years
5 years

Presbyterian Church

7348

23 September 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	102
Date of Notice	23 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Charles Chapman	Winifred Galbraith
	💍 1921/4131
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	7348
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

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).