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 1647

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar J. D. Inder

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 October 1921

John Clarence Rayner
Elizabeth Rita Howard

John Clarence Rayner
Elizabeth Rita Howard
💍 1921/5997

Bachelor
Spinster

Bacon Curor
Domestic Duties

19
20

Carterton
Masterton

-
-

Knox Manse, Masterton

10019

Benjamin Rayner, Father; George Howard, Father

5 October 1921

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	79
Date of Notice	5 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Clarence Rayner	Elizabeth Rita Howard
	💍 1921/5997
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bacon Curor	Domestic Duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	-	-
Marriage Place	Knox Manse, Masterton
Folio	10019
Consent	Benjamin Rayner, Father; George Howard, Father
Date of Certificate	5 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

7 October 1921

William Maud Holmes
George Henry Allen

Bachelor
Bachelor

Farm Hand

22
24

Featherston
Masterton

-
-

Methodist Church at Masterton

10020

7 October 1921

Rev. J. J. Pinfold, Methodist

No	80
Date of Notice	7 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Maud Holmes	George Henry Allen
Condition	Bachelor	Bachelor
Profession		Farm Hand
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Masterton
Length of Residence	-	-
Marriage Place	Methodist Church at Masterton
Folio	10020
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. J. Pinfold, Methodist

19 October 1921

Henry Gilbert Scott
Eunice Hall

Henry Gilbert Scott
Eunice Hall
💍 1921/6000

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

20
21

Featherston
Masterton

-
-

Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Masterton

10021

Henry Gilbert Scott, Father

19 October 1921

J. Miller, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	19 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Gilbert Scott	Eunice Hall
	💍 1921/6000
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Featherston	Masterton
Length of Residence	-	-
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Masterton
Folio	10021
Consent	Henry Gilbert Scott, Father
Date of Certificate	19 October 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Miller, Registrar

20 October 1921

James Conners
Mary Ann Bourke

James Connors
Mary Ann Bourke
💍 1921/6001

Bachelor
Spinster

Drain Layer
Domestic Duties

41
41

Masterton
Masterton

-
-

Roman Catholic Church, Masterton

10022

20 October 1921

Monseigneur McLennan, Roman Catholic

No	82
Date of Notice	20 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Conners	Mary Ann Bourke
BDM Match (96%)	James Connors	Mary Ann Bourke
	💍 1921/6001
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Drain Layer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	-	-
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Masterton
Folio	10022
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Monseigneur McLennan, Roman Catholic

21 October 1921

Alexander Thomas McKenna
Olive Elizabeth Wood

Alexander Thomas McKenzie
Olive Elizabeth Wooding
💍 1921/6002

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Home duties

25
25

Masterton
Masterton

-
-

Presbyterian Church, Masterton

10023

21 October 1921

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	83
Date of Notice	21 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Thomas McKenna	Olive Elizabeth Wood
BDM Match (88%)	Alexander Thomas McKenzie	Olive Elizabeth Wooding
	💍 1921/6002
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Home duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence	-	-
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Masterton
Folio	10023
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, 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).