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 1678

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar J. Murrell

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

28 February 1921

Alfred William Bissett
Irene Frances Boagey

Alfred William Bisset
Irene Frances Boagey
💍 1921/9593

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

27
24

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

Methodist Church Pahiatua

2232

28 February 1921

Rev Angus McBean, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	28 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred William Bissett	Irene Frances Boagey
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred William Bisset	Irene Frances Boagey
	💍 1921/9593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Pahiatua
Folio	2232
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Angus McBean, Methodist

16 March 1921

Leonard Lionel Wills
Ellen May Christiansen

Leonard Lionel Wills
Ellen May Christiansen
💍 1921/9594

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
22

Mangamare
Pahiatua

2 years

Methodist Church

2233

16 March 1921

No	7
Date of Notice	16 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Lionel Wills	Ellen May Christiansen
	💍 1921/9594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Mangamare	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church
Folio	2233
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1921
Officiating Minister

21 March 1921

Leslie Gordon Hirst
Winifred Beatrice Pearcey

Leslie Gordon Hirst
Winifred Beatrice Pearcey
💍 1921/9595

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

30
19

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 years

Church of England

2234

Thomas Hirst, father

21 March 1921

Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	21 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Gordon Hirst	Winifred Beatrice Pearcey
	💍 1921/9595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England
Folio	2234
Consent	Thomas Hirst, father
Date of Certificate	21 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev H. W. Monaghan, Church of England

30 March 1921

Charles Ireland
Elizabeth Mary Mepham

Charles Ireland
Elizabeth Mary Mepham
💍 1921/9596

Widower (10-1-19)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

44
29

Konini
Pahiatua

5 years
6 months

Mr. Harrison's dwelling at Mangahao

2235

Albert Pearcey, father

30 March 1921

Rev. Robert Welsh, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	30 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ireland	Elizabeth Mary Mepham
	💍 1921/9596
Condition	Widower (10-1-19)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	44	29
Dwelling Place	Konini	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	5 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Mr. Harrison's dwelling at Mangahao
Folio	2235
Consent	Albert Pearcey, father
Date of Certificate	30 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Welsh, Presbyterian

31 March 1921

Thomas Henry Roil
Mary Kathleen Bonway

Thomas Henry Roil
Mary Kathleen Conway
💍 1921/9573

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

30
22

Boonsoor
Boonsoor

3 years

Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua

2236

Henry Thomas Roil, father

31 March 1921

Rev. W. F. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	31 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Roil	Mary Kathleen Bonway
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Roil	Mary Kathleen Conway
	💍 1921/9573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Boonsoor	Boonsoor
Length of Residence	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Pahiatua
Folio	2236
Consent	Henry Thomas Roil, father
Date of Certificate	31 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Saunderson, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).