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 1685

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar C. E. Shortt

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 January 1921

Olave Tapp
Lillian Suckling

Olave Tapp
Lillian Suckling
💍 1921/9574

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

56
48

Palmerston North
Awapuni

12 years
3 weeks

Registrar's Office

2237

5 January 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Olave Tapp	Lillian Suckling
	💍 1921/9574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	56	48
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Awapuni
Length of Residence	12 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2237
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

10 January 1921

Albert Scott
Winnifred Browne

Albert Scott
Winnifred Browne
💍 1921/9575

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Saleswoman

26
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

17 months
2 years

Registrar's Office

2238

Edith May Oppsit, Mother

10 January 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Scott	Winnifred Browne
	💍 1921/9575
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Saleswoman
Age	26	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	17 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2238
Consent	Edith May Oppsit, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 January 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

12 January 1921

Alfred Roy Wrigley
Sarah Tangye Andrew

Alfred Roy Wrigley
Sarah Tangye Andrew
💍 1921/9576

Bachelor
Spinster

Telephonist
Teacher

26
38

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

8 months
4 years

Residence of Mr A.R. Wrigley, 74 Broad Street, Palmerston North

2239

12 January 1921

Rev Frank McDonald, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Roy Wrigley	Sarah Tangye Andrew
	💍 1921/9576
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telephonist	Teacher
Age	26	38
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr A.R. Wrigley, 74 Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2239
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Frank McDonald, Presbyterian

13 January 1921

Aage Christian Schioler
Ivy Lilian Sorensen

Aage Christian Schioler
Ivy Lilian Sorensen
💍 1921/9577

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Teacher

32
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 year

Lutheran Church, Church Street

2240

13 January 1921

Rev M. Christensen, Lutheran

No	4
Date of Notice	13 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aage Christian Schioler	Ivy Lilian Sorensen
	💍 1921/9577
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Teacher
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 year
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church, Church Street
Folio	2240
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev M. Christensen, Lutheran

14 January 1921

Frederick Leslie Bowron
Alice Kathleen Jessie Freeth

Frederick Leslie Bowron
Alice Kathleen Jessie Freeth
💍 1921/9578

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Domestic

25
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 days
5 years

All Saints Church of England

2241

14 January 1921

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Leslie Bowron	Alice Kathleen Jessie Freeth
	💍 1921/9578
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic
Age	25	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 days	5 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England
Folio	2241
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, 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).