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 1583

District of Greytown Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar J. W. Eccleston

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

5 April 1921

Hubert Joseph Quin
Doris May Parker

Hubert Joseph Quin
Doris May Parker
💍 1921/6644

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

22
19

Carrington, Carterton
Greytown

10 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Greytown

4897

a.e. O. Edward Parker, Mother

15 April 1921

Rev. Peter McGregor Murray, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	5 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hubert Joseph Quin	Doris May Parker
	💍 1921/6644
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Carrington, Carterton	Greytown
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Greytown
Folio	4897
Consent	a.e. O. Edward Parker, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Peter McGregor Murray, Presbyterian

23 April 1921

James Carrel Berkley
Janet Heyden Hume

Carrel James Bickley
Janet Leyden Hume
💍 1921/6645

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Domestic duties

26
25

Greytown
Greytown

3 days
3 days

Anglican Church Greytown

4898

28 April 1921

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	23 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Carrel Berkley	Janet Heyden Hume
BDM Match (72%)	Carrel James Bickley	Janet Leyden Hume
	💍 1921/6645
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Greytown
Folio	4898
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

28 April 1921

Hilton Stanley Parker
Thelma Lenore Udy

Hilton Stanley Parker
Thelma Colenso Udy
💍 1921/6646

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Clerk

20
21

Greytown
Greytown

2 years
21 years

Anglican Church Greytown

4899

Father

29 April 1921

[illegible], Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	28 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hilton Stanley Parker	Thelma Lenore Udy
BDM Match (83%)	Hilton Stanley Parker	Thelma Colenso Udy
	💍 1921/6646
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Clerk
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church Greytown
Folio	4899
Consent	Father
Date of Certificate	29 April 1921
Officiating Minister	[illegible], Anglican

4 May 1921

Donald Ross
Annie Eila Maclean

Donald Ross
Annie Eileen MacLean
💍 1921/6647

Bachelor
Spinster

Land agent
Milliner

27
22

Greytown
Greytown

4 months
3 days

Presbyterian Church Greytown

4900

4 May 1921

Rev. Rodrick Murray, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	4 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Ross	Annie Eila Maclean
BDM Match (90%)	Donald Ross	Annie Eileen MacLean
	💍 1921/6647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land agent	Milliner
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	4 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Greytown
Folio	4900
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Rodrick Murray, Presbyterian

4 June 1921

Frank Anderson
Eliza Jane Smith

Frank Anderson
Eliza Jane Smith
💍 1921/7509

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

26
22

Greytown
Greytown

4 days
22 years

St. Luke's Church Greytown

5744

8 June 1921

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	4 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Anderson	Eliza Jane Smith
	💍 1921/7509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Greytown	Greytown
Length of Residence	4 days	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church Greytown
Folio	5744
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, 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).