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 1686

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

14 January 1921

William McCreanor
Fanny Buck

William McCreanor
Fanny Buck
💍 1921/9579

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Domestic

56
66

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

20 years
20 years

Registrar's Office

2242

14 January 1921

C.E. Shortt, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McCreanor	Fanny Buck
	💍 1921/9579
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	56	66
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	20 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	2242
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	C.E. Shortt, Registrar

14 January 1921

Thomas Arthur Cropp
Alice Berriman Clatworthy

Thomas Arthur Cropp
Alice Berriman Clatworthy
💍 1921/9580

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

29
25

Wai-iti, Nelson
Linton

28 years
1 year

Cuba Street, Palmerston North

2243

14 January 1921

Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	14 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Arthur Cropp	Alice Berriman Clatworthy
	💍 1921/9580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Wai-iti, Nelson	Linton
Length of Residence	28 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Cuba Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2243
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev A. Ashcroft, Methodist

15 January 1921

William Henry Oliver
Irene May Lancaster

William Henry Oliver
Irene May Lancaster
💍 1921/9581

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
20

Ashhurst
Whakaronga

10 years
2 years

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

2244

Stephen Robert Lancaster, Father

15 January 1921

Rev George Watson, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	15 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Oliver	Irene May Lancaster
	💍 1921/9581
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Ashhurst	Whakaronga
Length of Residence	10 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	2244
Consent	Stephen Robert Lancaster, Father
Date of Certificate	15 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev George Watson, Anglican

17 January 1921

Augustus Ernest Twist
Emily Ilma Garrity

Augustus Ernest Twist
Emily Ilma Garrity
💍 1921/9582

Widower
Widow

Motor driver
Domestic

42
32

Residence of Mr George Bell, 34 Bourke Street, Palmerston North
Palmerston North

July 24th Palmerston North 1918
November 15th 1918

St Andrews Presbyterian Church

2245

17 January 1921

Rev George Heighway, Congregational

No	9
Date of Notice	17 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Augustus Ernest Twist	Emily Ilma Garrity
	💍 1921/9582
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Residence of Mr George Bell, 34 Bourke Street, Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	July 24th Palmerston North 1918	November 15th 1918
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	2245
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev George Heighway, Congregational

18 January 1921

William Alexander Gordon
Inga Hilda Ronberg

William Alexander Gordon
Inga Hilda Ronberg
💍 1921/9584

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman Railway
Shop Assistant

20
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 months
4 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church

2246

Peter Charles Elis Ronberg, Father

18 January 1921

Rev A. Doull, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Gordon	Inga Hilda Ronberg
	💍 1921/9584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman Railway	Shop Assistant
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church
Folio	2246
Consent	Peter Charles Elis Ronberg, Father
Date of Certificate	18 January 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).