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 1630

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1921

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

29 January 1921

John Paratene McMaster
Inas Maude McKenzie

John Paratene McMaster
Ina Maude McKenzie
💍 1921/9543

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
33

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church at Masterton

2181

29 January 1921

Rev. E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	29 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paratene McMaster	Inas Maude McKenzie
BDM Match (97%)	John Paratene McMaster	Ina Maude McKenzie
	💍 1921/9543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church at Masterton
Folio	2181
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Tipler, Presbyterian

31 January 1921

Walter Henry Bagley
Lilly Grace West

Walter Henry Bagley
Lilly Grace West
💍 1921/9544

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

41
28

Masterton
Masterton

Presbyterian Church at Lansdowne Masterton

2182

31 January 1921

Rev. J. T. Mackay, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	31 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Bagley	Lilly Grace West
	💍 1921/9544
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	41	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church at Lansdowne Masterton
Folio	2182
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Mackay, Presbyterian

1 February 1921

Edwin Pain Junior
Elizabeth Flowers Hughes

Edwin Pain
Elizabeth Flowers Hughes
💍 1921/9545

Divorced
Spinster

Farmer
Household Duties

46
38

Whakataki
Masterton

Methodist Parsonage at Masterton

2183

1 February 1921

Rev. H. D. Perryman, Methodist

No	8
Date of Notice	1 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Pain Junior	Elizabeth Flowers Hughes
BDM Match (79%)	Edwin Pain	Elizabeth Flowers Hughes
	💍 1921/9545
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Household Duties
Age	46	38
Dwelling Place	Whakataki	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage at Masterton
Folio	2183
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. D. Perryman, Methodist

2 February 1921

Edward Rickard
Maria Louisa Gunn

Edward Rickard
Maria Louisa Gunn
💍 1921/9546

Bachelor
Divorced

Painter
Book

40
40

Masterton
Masterton

Registrar's Office at Masterton

2184

2 February 1921

J. Miller, Registrar of Marriages at Masterton

No	9
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Rickard	Maria Louisa Gunn
	💍 1921/9546
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced
Profession	Painter	Book
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office at Masterton
Folio	2184
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	J. Miller, Registrar of Marriages at Masterton

2 February 1921

Arthur Llewellyn Evans
Ivy Geraldine Baxter

Arthur Llewellyn Evans
Ivy Geraldine Baxter
💍 1921/9523

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Clerk

24
28

Masterton
Masterton

St Matthew's Anglican Church Masterton

2185

2 February 1921

Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Llewellyn Evans	Ivy Geraldine Baxter
	💍 1921/9523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Clerk
Age	24	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St Matthew's Anglican Church Masterton
Folio	2185
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Walker, Church of England

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).