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 1692

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar L.G.M. 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

2 March 1921

Leonard Henry Satherley
Doris Eileen Neal

Leonard Henry Satherley
Doris Eileen Neal
💍 1921/9609

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

35
23

Palmerston North
Shannon

3 days
2 years

Registrar's Office

2272

2 March 1921

L.G.M. Shortt, Deputy Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	2 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Henry Satherley	Doris Eileen Neal
	💍 1921/9609
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Shannon
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2272
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1921
Officiating Minister	L.G.M. Shortt, Deputy Registrar

4 March 1921

Henry Holgerson
Polly Carne

Henry Holgerson
Polly Carne
💍 1921/9610

Bachelor
Spinster

Machinist
Agricultural Instructress

31
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

7 years
1 week

All Saints Church of England Palmerston North

2273

4 March 1921

Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	4 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Holgerson	Polly Carne
	💍 1921/9610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Machinist	Agricultural Instructress
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 years	1 week
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England Palmerston North
Folio	2273
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H.G. Blackburne, Anglican

8 March 1921

James Skeet
Doris Ida Sollitt

James Skeet
Doris Ida Sollitt
💍 1921/9611

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber yardman
Domestic

34
25

Hastings
Palmerston North

6 months
20 years

St Peters Anglican Church Terrace End

2274

8 March 1921

Rev John Hobbs, Anglican

No	38
Date of Notice	8 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Skeet	Doris Ida Sollitt
	💍 1921/9611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber yardman	Domestic
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Anglican Church Terrace End
Folio	2274
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev John Hobbs, Anglican

10 March 1921

James William Parker Lucas
Rita Rhoda Meredith Mudford

James William Parker Lucas
Rita Rhoda Meredith Mudford
💍 1921/9612

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

32
23

Palmerston North
Glen Oroua

1 week

St Andrews Presbyterian

2275

10 March 1921

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	10 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James William Parker Lucas	Rita Rhoda Meredith Mudford
	💍 1921/9612
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Glen Oroua
Length of Residence	1 week
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian
Folio	2275
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

11 March 1921

John Alexander Grant
Hazel Burnett Bett

John Alexander Grant
Hazel Burnett Bett
💍 1921/1176

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic

26
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

Residence of John Bett, 16 Queen Street Palmerston North

2276

Residence of John Bett, 16 Queen Street Palmerston North

11 March 1921

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	40
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Grant	Hazel Burnett Bett
	💍 1921/1176
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Residence of John Bett, 16 Queen Street Palmerston North
Folio	2276
Consent	Residence of John Bett, 16 Queen Street Palmerston North
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

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).