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 1641

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar Miller

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

Robert Christopher Lister
Caroline Annie Isabell Simpson

Robert Christopher Lister
Caroline Annie Isabel Mary Simpson
💍 1921/3461

Divorced (Decree absolute 4th June 1921)
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

29
33

Masterton
Masterton

Residence of Mrs T Bassett, Dent Street, Masterton

7453

2 July 1921

G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	54
Date of Notice	2 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Christopher Lister	Caroline Annie Isabell Simpson
BDM Match (93%)	Robert Christopher Lister	Caroline Annie Isabel Mary Simpson
	💍 1921/3461
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 4th June 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs T Bassett, Dent Street, Masterton
Folio	7453
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1921
Officiating Minister	G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

4 July 1921

Arthur Allen Brewerton
Mary Ream Woodward

Arthur Allen Brewerton
Mary Ream Woodward
💍 1921/3462

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Clerk
Dressmaker

21
20

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church at Masterton

7454

Elizabeth Woodward, Mother of Bride

4 July 1921

G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	58
Date of Notice	4 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Allen Brewerton	Mary Ream Woodward
	💍 1921/3462
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Clerk	Dressmaker
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	7454
Consent	Elizabeth Woodward, Mother of Bride
Date of Certificate	4 July 1921
Officiating Minister	G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

15 July 1921

William Hutchison Gordon
Iris Mary Thomas

William Hutchison Gordon
Iris Mary Thomas
💍 1921/3463

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

35
34

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church Masterton

7455

13 July 1921

G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	59
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hutchison Gordon	Iris Mary Thomas
	💍 1921/3463
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	35	34
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church Masterton
Folio	7455
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1921
Officiating Minister	G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

14 July 1921

John William McBain
Ruth Alice Page

John William McSwain
Ruth Alice Page
💍 1921/3464

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Clerk

43
44

Masterton
Masterton

St Matthew's Church at Masterton

7456

J. E. Blackburne, Church of England

No	60
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William McBain	Ruth Alice Page
BDM Match (95%)	John William McSwain	Ruth Alice Page
	💍 1921/3464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Clerk
Age	43	44
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Church at Masterton
Folio	7456
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	J. E. Blackburne, Church of England

21 July 1921

Walter Herbert Millington
Winifred Jane Hibbard

Walter Herbert Millington
Winifred Jane Hibbard
💍 1921/3465

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
25

Carterton
Masterton

Presbyterian Church, Kopuaranga

7457

21 July 1921

J. T. Mackay, Presbyterian

No	61
Date of Notice	21 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Herbert Millington	Winifred Jane Hibbard
	💍 1921/3465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Kopuaranga
Folio	7457
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. T. Mackay, 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).