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 1712

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 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

120

8 July 1921

Walter Collin Belcher Stanbury
Muriel Margaret Davidson

Walter Collin Belcher Stanbury
Muriel Margaret Davidson
💍 1921/4253

Bachelor
Widow (December 20th 1920)

Farmer
Domestic

26
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 year
1 year

Registrar's Office

7495

8 July 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	8 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Collin Belcher Stanbury	Muriel Margaret Davidson
	💍 1921/4253
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (December 20th 1920)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	7495
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 July 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

121

11 July 1921

Walter Clifford Flodgell
Hannah Elisabeth Jones

Walter Clifford Flogdell
Hannah Elisabeth Jones
💍 1921/4254

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office

7496

Wilfred Lawson Jones, Father

11 July 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	121
Date of Notice	11 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Clifford Flodgell	Hannah Elisabeth Jones
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Clifford Flogdell	Hannah Elisabeth Jones
	💍 1921/4254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	7496
Consent	Wilfred Lawson Jones, Father
Date of Certificate	11 July 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

122

14 July 1921

Ernest Seaward
Flora Coy

Ernest Seaward
Flora Coy
💍 1921/4255

Bachelor
Spinster

Government Employee
Domestic

25
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

All Saints Church of England

7497

14 July 1921

Rev H.G.Blackburne, Anglican

No	122
Date of Notice	14 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Seaward	Flora Coy
	💍 1921/4255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Government Employee	Domestic
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England
Folio	7497
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G.Blackburne, Anglican

123

16 July 1921

Frank Edlin
Alice Nelson

Frank Edlin
Alice Nelson
💍 1921/4256

Divorced (Decree Absolute March 16th 1920)
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

28
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 days
6 days

Registrar's Office

7498

16 July 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	123
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Edlin	Alice Nelson
	💍 1921/4256
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute March 16th 1920)	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 days	6 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	7498
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

124

16 July 1921

Charles James Bollen
Elizabeth Dobbie

Charles James Bollen
Elizabeth Dobbie
💍 1921/4257

Bachelor
Widow (August 7th 1916)

Commission Agent
Domestic

47
40

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

7 days
7 days

Church of England Palmerston North

7499

16 July 1921

Rev H.G.Blackburne, Anglican

No	124
Date of Notice	16 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles James Bollen	Elizabeth Dobbie
	💍 1921/4257
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (August 7th 1916)
Profession	Commission Agent	Domestic
Age	47	40
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	7499
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 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).