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 1392

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

142

10 October 1921

Walter Thomas Shaw
Renoldeen Robena Hentschke

Walter Thomas Shaw
Renoldsen Robena Hentschke
💍 1921/3871

Widower (4th Aug 1920)
Spinster

Drain layer
Domestic

34
26

Clive
Clive

3 days
6 months

St. Marks Church Clive

9913

10 October 1921

R. F. Geddes, Church of England

No	142
Date of Notice	10 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Thomas Shaw	Renoldeen Robena Hentschke
BDM Match (98%)	Walter Thomas Shaw	Renoldsen Robena Hentschke
	💍 1921/3871
Condition	Widower (4th Aug 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Drain layer	Domestic
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	3 days	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church Clive
Folio	9913
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1921
Officiating Minister	R. F. Geddes, Church of England

143

10 October 1921

Alister Basil Shaw
Irene Pearl Stothart

Alister Basil Shaw
Irene Pearl Stothart
💍 1921/3872

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

23
23

Wairoa
Napier

23 years
25 years

St. Paul's Church Napier

9914

10 October 1921

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	143
Date of Notice	10 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alister Basil Shaw	Irene Pearl Stothart
	💍 1921/3872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Napier
Folio	9914
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 October 1921
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

144

14 October 1921

William Hayes
Ivy Violet Lucy Davies

William Hayes
Ivy Violet Lucy Davies
💍 1921/3873

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter, NZ Railway
Clerk

35
22

Wellington
Napier

2 years
4 years

St. Patrick's Church Napier

9915

14 October 1921

T. J. Campbell, Roman Catholic

No	144
Date of Notice	14 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hayes	Ivy Violet Lucy Davies
	💍 1921/3873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter, NZ Railway	Clerk
Age	35	22
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church Napier
Folio	9915
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1921
Officiating Minister	T. J. Campbell, Roman Catholic

145

18 October 1921

Thomas Stafford
Alice Pritchard

Thomas Stafford
Alice Pritchard
💍 1921/3874

Bachelor
Widow (21st July 1909)

Carrier
Domestic

43
37

Wairoa
Wairoa

2 years
12 months

Registrar's Office Napier

9916

18 October 1921

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	18 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stafford	Alice Pritchard
	💍 1921/3874
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (21st July 1909)
Profession	Carrier	Domestic
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	2 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Napier
Folio	9916
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1921
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

146

22 October 1921

George Edward Dann
Ivy Eveline Fountain

George Edward Dann
Ivy Eveline Fountain
💍 1921/3875

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

28
33

Napier
Napier

28 years
33 years

Gospel Hall Napier

9917

22 October 1921

J. R. Garratt, Brethren

No	146
Date of Notice	22 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Dann	Ivy Eveline Fountain
	💍 1921/3875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	28	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	33 years
Marriage Place	Gospel Hall Napier
Folio	9917
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1921
Officiating Minister	J. R. Garratt, Brethren

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).