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 1381

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar H. Buchanan

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

James Jackson Hague
Olive Winifred Attwood

James Jackson Hague
Olive Winifred Attwood
💍 1921/4141

Bachelor
Spinster

Newshaper Machinist
Letterpress Machinist

38
22

Napier
Napier

38 years
22 years

Methodist Church Greenmeadows

7351

2 July 1921

J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	93
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Jackson Hague	Olive Winifred Attwood
	💍 1921/4141
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newshaper Machinist	Letterpress Machinist
Age	38	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	38 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Greenmeadows
Folio	7351
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. R. Richards, Methodist

4 July 1921

George Allan Johansen
Kathleen Rose Watson

George Allan Johansen
Cathleen Rose Watson
💍 1921/4152

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Nurse

21
20

Napier
Napier

3 days
3 days

St. Johns Cathedral Napier

7352

Isabella Stanley, Mother

4 July 1921

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	94
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Allan Johansen	Kathleen Rose Watson
BDM Match (98%)	George Allan Johansen	Cathleen Rose Watson
	💍 1921/4152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Nurse
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral Napier
Folio	7352
Consent	Isabella Stanley, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

5 July 1921

Albert Pritchard
Ethel Watkins

Albert Pritchard
Ethel Watkins
💍 1921/4159

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Nurse

36
41

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

St. Augustine's Church Napier

7353

5 July 1921

E. G. Rice, Church of England

No	95
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Pritchard	Ethel Watkins
	💍 1921/4159
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Nurse
Age	36	41
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church Napier
Folio	7353
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	E. G. Rice, Church of England

5 July 1921

William Laurence Reid
Ivy Elsie Inder

William Laurence Reid
Ivy Elsie Inder
💍 1921/4160

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 10 May 1921)

Timber Worker
Domestic Duties

27
27

Napier
Napier

6 months
3 months

Registrar's Office Napier

7354

5 July 1921

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	96
Date of Notice	5 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Laurence Reid	Ivy Elsie Inder
	💍 1921/4160
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 10 May 1921)
Profession	Timber Worker	Domestic Duties
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	6 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	7354
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

8 July 1921

Andrew Charles Leonard Bate
Cathrine Ada Blair

Andrew Charles Leonard Cato
Cathrine Ada Blair
💍 1921/4161

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

24
20

Napier
Napier

3 days
2 months

Registrar's Office Napier

7355

Benjamin Blair, Father

8 July 1921

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	97
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Charles Leonard Bate	Cathrine Ada Blair
BDM Match (96%)	Andrew Charles Leonard Cato	Cathrine Ada Blair
	💍 1921/4161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	7355
Consent	Benjamin Blair, Father
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, 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).