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 1459

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar J. P. Crichton

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

12 January 1921

Hori Mate
Mere Maru Te Iwi

Hori Mete
Mere Maru Te Iwi
💍 1921/1160

Widow (Note: 22nd March 1920)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

60
22

Nuhaka
Nuhaka

60 years
1 year

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa

2093

12 January 1921

J. P. Crichton, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hori Mate	Mere Maru Te Iwi
BDM Match (94%)	Hori Mete	Mere Maru Te Iwi
	💍 1921/1160
Condition	Widow (Note: 22nd March 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	60	22
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Nuhaka
Length of Residence	60 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa
Folio	2093
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1921
Officiating Minister	J. P. Crichton, Registrar

2 February 1921

George Leslie Dalglish
Mary Louisa Margaret Mayo

George Leslie Dalgleish
Mary Louisa Margaret Mayo
💍 1921/1161

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

21
26

Wairoa
Wairoa

4 years
26 years

Residence of John Mayo Wairoa

2094

2 February 1921

Revd William Raeburn

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Leslie Dalglish	Mary Louisa Margaret Mayo
BDM Match (98%)	George Leslie Dalgleish	Mary Louisa Margaret Mayo
	💍 1921/1161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	21	26
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	4 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Mayo Wairoa
Folio	2094
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Revd William Raeburn

7 February 1921

Rionel Berlyn Lewis
Louisa Harriet Forsyth

Lionel Berlyn Lewis
Louisa Harriet Forsyth
💍 1921/1162

Bachelor
Spinster

Store Assistant
School Teacher

23
27

Frasertown
Frasertown

3 days
6 weeks

Church of England Frasertown

2095

7 February 1921

Revd George Nelham Watson

No	3
Date of Notice	7 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rionel Berlyn Lewis	Louisa Harriet Forsyth
BDM Match (97%)	Lionel Berlyn Lewis	Louisa Harriet Forsyth
	💍 1921/1162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Store Assistant	School Teacher
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Frasertown	Frasertown
Length of Residence	3 days	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England Frasertown
Folio	2095
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Revd George Nelham Watson

9 February 1921

George Palmer
Elizabeth Mary Ormond

George Palmer
Elizabeth Mary Overend
💍 1921/1164

Bachelor
Widow (Note: 9th July 1919)

Labourer
Cook

42
43

Wairoa
Wairoa

10 years
5 years

Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa

2096

9 February 1921

J. P. Crichton, Registrar

No	4
Date of Notice	9 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Palmer	Elizabeth Mary Ormond
BDM Match (91%)	George Palmer	Elizabeth Mary Overend
	💍 1921/1164
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (Note: 9th July 1919)
Profession	Labourer	Cook
Age	42	43
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages Wairoa
Folio	2096
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. P. Crichton, Registrar

11 February 1921

Koronivia Ratana Whaanga
Susie Truhana Mitchell

Koromiria Ratana Whaanga
Susie Tuihana Mitchell
💍 1921/1165

Widow (Note: 2nd December 1918)
Divorced (Decree absolute 27th September 1919)

Sheepfarmer
Nurse

49
24

Nuhaka
Wairoa

49 years
9 months

Presbyterian Church Nuhaka

2097

11 February 1921

Revd Robert Williamson

No	5
Date of Notice	11 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Koronivia Ratana Whaanga	Susie Truhana Mitchell
BDM Match (91%)	Koromiria Ratana Whaanga	Susie Tuihana Mitchell
	💍 1921/1165
Condition	Widow (Note: 2nd December 1918)	Divorced (Decree absolute 27th September 1919)
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Nurse
Age	49	24
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Wairoa
Length of Residence	49 years	9 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Nuhaka
Folio	2097
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Revd Robert Williamson

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).