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 1700

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 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

30 April 1921

Edwin Thomas Jeffrey May
Nellie Victoria Day

Edwin Thomas Jeffrey May
Nellie Victoria Day
💍 1921/6739

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic

36
30

Palmerston North
April 3rd Palmerston North 1920

4 days
10 days

All Saints Church of England

4968

30 April 1921

Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	68
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Thomas Jeffrey May	Nellie Victoria Day
	💍 1921/6739
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	April 3rd Palmerston North 1920
Length of Residence	4 days	10 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England
Folio	4968
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

2 May 1921

John McLoughlin
Catherine Elizabeth Fearon

John McLoughlin
Catherine Elizabeth Fearon
💍 1921/6740

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Nurse

33
24

Gisborne
Palmerston North

33 years
2 weeks

St Patricks Roman Catholic Church

4969

2 May 1921

Rev J. F. McManus, Roman Catholic

No	69
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McLoughlin	Catherine Elizabeth Fearon
	💍 1921/6740
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Nurse
Age	33	24
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	33 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Patricks Roman Catholic Church
Folio	4969
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev J. F. McManus, Roman Catholic

3 May 1921

Henry Mitchell Houten
Maggie Florence Parker

Henry Mitchell Houten
Maggie Florence Parker
💍 1921/6742

Widower
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic

48
34

March 23rd Palmerston North 1920
Palmerston North

40 years
3 days

Registrar's Office

4970

3 May 1921

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	70
Date of Notice	3 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Mitchell Houten	Maggie Florence Parker
	💍 1921/6742
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic
Age	48	34
Dwelling Place	March 23rd Palmerston North 1920	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	40 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4970
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1921
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

5 May 1921

Stanley Thomas Hyde
Ellen Rose Adams

Stanley Thomas Hyde
Ellen Rose Adams
💍 1921/6743

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

23
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
1 week

Registrar's Office

4971

John Henry Adams, Father

5 May 1921

C. E. Shortt, Registrar

No	71
Date of Notice	5 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Thomas Hyde	Ellen Rose Adams
	💍 1921/6743
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4971
Consent	John Henry Adams, Father
Date of Certificate	5 May 1921
Officiating Minister	C. E. Shortt, Registrar

5 May 1921

William Hemara
Hannah McDonnell

William Hemara
Hannah McDonnell
💍 1921/6744

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
20

Rangitane
Rangitane

4 years
3 years

Registrar's Office

4972

Hine McDonnell, Father

5 May 1921

No	72
Date of Notice	5 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hemara	Hannah McDonnell
	💍 1921/6744
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Rangitane	Rangitane
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4972
Consent	Hine McDonnell, Father
Date of Certificate	5 May 1921
Officiating Minister

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).