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 1359

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 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

125

9 December 1921

William Wilkinson Finlinson
Annie Collins

William Wilkinson Finlinson
Annie Collins
💍 1921/3859

Bachelor
Widow (Previous spouse died 30 June 1918)

Clerk
Dressmaker

26
28

Hastings
Hastings

2 years
13 years

Catholic Church

9895

9 December 1921

Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	125
Date of Notice	9 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilkinson Finlinson	Annie Collins
	💍 1921/3859
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (Previous spouse died 30 June 1918)
Profession	Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	9895
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

126

13 December 1921

John Carswell Boyd
Myrtle Ivy Hatherell

John Carswell Boyd
Myrtle Ivy Hatherell
💍 1921/5911

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Engineer & Importer
Saleswoman

32
24

Hastings
Hastings

20 years
23 years

Presbyterian Church

9900

13 December 1921

Rev. J. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	126
Date of Notice	13 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Carswell Boyd	Myrtle Ivy Hatherell
	💍 1921/5911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Engineer & Importer	Saleswoman
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	9900
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ramsay, Presbyterian

127

15 December 1921

Rupert Ingram Sutton
Eileen Margaret French

Rupert Ingram Sutton
Eileen Margaret French
💍 1921/3867

Bachelor
Spinster

Dentist
Domestic Duties

34
22

Napier
Hastings

11 years
4 years

St. Matthew's Church

9901

15 December 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	127
Date of Notice	15 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Ingram Sutton	Eileen Margaret French
	💍 1921/3867
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dentist	Domestic Duties
Age	34	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	11 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	9901
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

128

16 December 1921

Alfred Vivian Hays
Emily Robina Faith Peters

Alfred Vivian Mayo
Emily Robina Faith Peters
💍 1921/3878

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephone Linesman
Housemaid

25
24

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
9 years

Presbyterian Church

9902

16 December 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	128
Date of Notice	16 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Vivian Hays	Emily Robina Faith Peters
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred Vivian Mayo	Emily Robina Faith Peters
	💍 1921/3878
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephone Linesman	Housemaid
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	9902
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

129

19 December 1921

Norman Felix Rigby
Doris Alison Chamberlain

Norman Felix Rigby
Doris Alison Chamberlain
💍 1921/3885

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Schoolteacher

31
23

Hastings
Hastings

21 years
3 days

St. Matthew's Church

9903

19 December 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	129
Date of Notice	19 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Felix Rigby	Doris Alison Chamberlain
	💍 1921/3885
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Schoolteacher
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	21 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	9903
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. 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).