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 1638

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar Hiller

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

21 April 1921

James Cameron
Marjorie Elmslie Archibald

James Cameron
Marjorie Elmslie Archibald
💍 1921/821

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

33
26

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church at Masterton

4924

21 April 1921

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	21 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Cameron	Marjorie Elmslie Archibald
	💍 1921/821
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	4924
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

30 April 1921

Thomas Godfrey Augustus Jones
Rhoda Mary Pratt

Thomas Godfrey Augustus Jones
Rhoda Mary Pratt
💍 1921/822

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Telegraph Office

30
24

Masterton
Masterton

Presbyterian Church at Masterton

4925

30 April 1921

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	44
Date of Notice	30 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Godfrey Augustus Jones	Rhoda Mary Pratt
	💍 1921/822
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Telegraph Office
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Masterton
Folio	4925
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

9 May 1921

Richard Seddon Biber Palmer
Beatrice Annie Holmswood

Richard Seddon Pilmer
Beatrice Annie Holmwood
💍 1921/6755

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

25
21

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthew's Anglican Church at Masterton

4926

9 May 1921

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	45
Date of Notice	9 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Seddon Biber Palmer	Beatrice Annie Holmswood
BDM Match (85%)	Richard Seddon Pilmer	Beatrice Annie Holmwood
	💍 1921/6755
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Anglican Church at Masterton
Folio	4926
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

18 May 1921

Rupert Alfred Larson
Elizabeth Sarah Clifford

Rupert Alfred Larsen
Elizabeth Sarah Clifford
💍 1921/6766

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

28
21

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthew's Anglican Church at Masterton

4927

18 May 1921

Rev. John Walker, Church of England

No	46
Date of Notice	18 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rupert Alfred Larson	Elizabeth Sarah Clifford
BDM Match (98%)	Rupert Alfred Larsen	Elizabeth Sarah Clifford
	💍 1921/6766
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Anglican Church at Masterton
Folio	4927
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Walker, Church of England

21 May 1921

William James Wallace
Julia Catherine Curran

William James Wallace
Julia Catherine Curran
💍 1921/6773

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Domestic Duties

34
28

Masterton
Masterton

Roman Catholic Church at Masterton

4928

21 May 1921

Rev. Father R. Hegarty, Roman Catholic

No	47
Date of Notice	21 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Wallace	Julia Catherine Curran
	💍 1921/6773
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church at Masterton
Folio	4928
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father R. Hegarty, 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).