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 1677

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar J. Burrell

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

4 January 1921

Leonard Daniel Beech
Charlotte Hill

Leonard Daniel Beech
Charlotte Hill
💍 1921/9572

Bachelor
Widow

Sheepfarmer
Shop Assistant

27
28

Konini
Pahiatua

34 years
28 years

Roman Catholic Church

2227

4 January 1921

Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

No	1
Date of Notice	4 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Daniel Beech	Charlotte Hill
	💍 1921/9572
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Shop Assistant
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Konini	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	34 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	2227
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

17 January 1921

Horace John Terry Curn
Lilian Constance Ashby

Horace John Terry
Lilian Constance Ashby
💍 1921/9583

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Domestic Duties

26
32

Mangapainua
Mangatainoka

2 days
4 months

Methodist Church

2228

17 January 1921

Rev. A. L. J. [illegible initial], Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace John Terry Curn	Lilian Constance Ashby
BDM Match (89%)	Horace John Terry	Lilian Constance Ashby
	💍 1921/9583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Domestic Duties
Age	26	32
Dwelling Place	Mangapainua	Mangatainoka
Length of Residence	2 days	4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	2228
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. L. J. [illegible initial], Methodist

21 January 1921

Arthur Edwin Miller
Violet Winifred Swan

Arthur Edwin Miller
Violet Winifred May Swan
💍 1921/9590

Bachelor
Spinster

Firewood Dealer
Domestic Duties

30
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

7 years
10 years

Presbyterian Church

2229

21 January 1921

Rev. R. Welsh, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin Miller	Violet Winifred Swan
BDM Match (92%)	Arthur Edwin Miller	Violet Winifred May Swan
	💍 1921/9590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Firewood Dealer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	7 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	2229
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Welsh, Presbyterian

29 January 1921

John Morrison Bell
Johanna Farrell

John Morrison
Johanna Farrell
💍 1921/9591

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Dressmaker

37
30

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 months
3 weeks

Roman Catholic Church

2230

29 January 1921

Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Morrison Bell	Johanna Farrell
BDM Match (86%)	John Morrison	Johanna Farrell
	💍 1921/9591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Dressmaker
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	2230
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

31 January 1921

Robert Patrick Kelly
Kathleen Veronica O'Rourke

Robert Patrick Kelly
Kathleen Veronica O'Rourke
💍 1921/9592

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Clerk

24
19

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 years
12 years

Roman Catholic Church

2231

Daniel O'Rourke, father

31 January 1921

Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Patrick Kelly	Kathleen Veronica O'Rourke
	💍 1921/9592
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerk
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	2231
Consent	Daniel O'Rourke, father
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. J. Sanderson, Roman Catholic

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).