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 1671

District of Otaki Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar J. C. Hodgson

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 July 1921

James Warnock
Alice Adeline Taylor

James Warnock
Alice Adeline Taylor
💍 1921/4259

Bachelor
Spinster

Domestic Servant

20
21

Clarke
Haulker Cross

2 years
3 years

Residence of Thomas Frederick Taylor Haulker Cross

7478

12 July 1921

R. R. Reall, Methodist

No	15
Date of Notice	12 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Warnock	Alice Adeline Taylor
	💍 1921/4259
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession		Domestic Servant
Age	20	21
Dwelling Place	Clarke	Haulker Cross
Length of Residence	2 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Frederick Taylor Haulker Cross
Folio	7478
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1921
Officiating Minister	R. R. Reall, Methodist

25 July 1921

John Agnew
Ellen Clara Johnson

John Agnew
Ellen Olive Johnson
💍 1921/4260

Bachelor
Spinster

[illegible]
Domestic Servant

21
19

Paetatarara
Oaki

8 months
11 years

Registrar

7479

25 July 1921

J. H. Hodgson, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	25 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Agnew	Ellen Clara Johnson
BDM Match (89%)	John Agnew	Ellen Olive Johnson
	💍 1921/4260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	[illegible]	Domestic Servant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Paetatarara	Oaki
Length of Residence	8 months	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar
Folio	7479
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1921
Officiating Minister	J. H. Hodgson, Registrar

8 August 1921

Charles Day
Dorothy Luana [illegible surname]

Charles Day
Dorothy Maxwell
💍 1921/4261

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Domestic Servant

38
21

Te Horo
Ohoro

14 days
8 Days

Anglican Church

7480

8 August 1921

P. F. Baine, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	8 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Day	Dorothy Luana [illegible surname]
BDM Match (67%)	Charles Day	Dorothy Maxwell
	💍 1921/4261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	38	21
Dwelling Place	Te Horo	Ohoro
Length of Residence	14 days	8 Days
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	7480
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	P. F. Baine, Church of England

27 August 1921

Walter Horatio Fairley
May Jessie Roman

Walter Morgan Fairley
May Jenkins
💍 1921/4262

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic Servant

19
22

Otaiki
Otaiki

10 years
22 years

Roman Catholic Church

7481

27 August 1921

J. Mela

No	18
Date of Notice	27 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Horatio Fairley	May Jessie Roman
BDM Match (61%)	Walter Morgan Fairley	May Jenkins
	💍 1921/4262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic Servant
Age	19	22
Dwelling Place	Otaiki	Otaiki
Length of Residence	10 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	7481
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Mela

2 September 1921

Robert Brown Huley
Charlotte Mabel Duggan

Robert Brown Flutey
Charlotte Mabel Duggan
💍 1921/4263

Divorced (Decree absolute 18 August 1921)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Servant

30
18

Otaiki
Haulker Cross Duggan

34 years
3 years

Residence of Daniel Duggan Haulker Cross

7482

2 September 1921

Mr. P. B. Harris, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	2 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Brown Huley	Charlotte Mabel Duggan
BDM Match (92%)	Robert Brown Flutey	Charlotte Mabel Duggan
	💍 1921/4263
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 18 August 1921)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Servant
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Otaiki	Haulker Cross Duggan
Length of Residence	34 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Daniel Duggan Haulker Cross
Folio	7482
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Mr. P. B. Harris, 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).