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 1693

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar O. E. Shorth

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 March 1921

William Rowland
Margaret Jane Jeffs

William Rowland
Margaret Jane Jeffs
💍 1921/1187

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

29
25

Tiakitahuna
Linton

29 years
25 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

2277

12 March 1921

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	41
Date of Notice	12 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Rowland	Margaret Jane Jeffs
	💍 1921/1187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Tiakitahuna	Linton
Length of Residence	29 years	25 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	2277
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

12 March 1921

Charles Frederick Thompson
Elsie Maud Lucas

Charles Frederick Thompson
Elsie Maude Lucas
💍 1921/1194

Bachelor
Widow (November 27th 1918)

Carpenter
Furrier

25
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years

St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North

2278

12 March 1921

Rev G.S. Cook, Methodist

No	42
Date of Notice	12 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Thompson	Elsie Maud Lucas
BDM Match (97%)	Charles Frederick Thompson	Elsie Maude Lucas
	💍 1921/1194
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (November 27th 1918)
Profession	Carpenter	Furrier
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2278
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G.S. Cook, Methodist

15 March 1921

William Campbell Jonson
Frances May Sneddon

William Campbell Jonson
Frances May Sneddon
💍 1921/1195

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic

24
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
8 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North

2279

Lily May Sneddon, Mother

15 March 1921

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	15 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Campbell Jonson	Frances May Sneddon
	💍 1921/1195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2279
Consent	Lily May Sneddon, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

17 March 1921

Aaron John Passey
Amy Evelyn Valentine Wagstaff

Aaron John Passey
Amy Evelyn Valentine Wagstaff
💍 1921/1196

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
23

Newbury
Pohangina

6 months

St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North

2280

17 March 1921

Rev W. Gatman, Methodist

No	44
Date of Notice	17 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Aaron John Passey	Amy Evelyn Valentine Wagstaff
	💍 1921/1196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Newbury	Pohangina
Length of Residence	6 months
Marriage Place	St Pauls Methodist Church, Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2280
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Gatman, Methodist

17 March 1921

Charles Frederick Turner
Amy Keziah Mousley

Charles Frederick Turner
Amy Keziah Mousley
💍 1921/1197

Widower (December 4th 1916)
Spinster

Nurseryman
Domestic

47
36

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 years
10 years

St Peters Church of England, Palmerston North

2281

17 March 1921

Rev J. Hobbs, Anglican

No	45
Date of Notice	17 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Frederick Turner	Amy Keziah Mousley
	💍 1921/1197
Condition	Widower (December 4th 1916)	Spinster
Profession	Nurseryman	Domestic
Age	47	36
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	2281
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. Hobbs, 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).