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 1372

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar H. 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

12 April 1921

Percy Alexander Bollinge
Julia Ann Burtin

Percy Alexander Collinge
Julia Ann Curtin
💍 1921/6673

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

29
23

Pakowhai
Pakowhai

29 years
23 years

St. Marys Church, Meeanee

4778

12 April 1921

Father Hickson, Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	12 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Alexander Bollinge	Julia Ann Burtin
BDM Match (95%)	Percy Alexander Collinge	Julia Ann Curtin
	💍 1921/6673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Pakowhai	Pakowhai
Length of Residence	29 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Meeanee
Folio	4778
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Father Hickson, Roman Catholic

13 April 1921

John Biss
Cecilia Mary Howard

John Biss
Cecilia Mary Howard
💍 1921/6674

Widower
Spinster

Polisher
Domestic

48
25

Napier
Napier

2 years
4 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

4779

13 April 1921

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	56
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Biss	Cecilia Mary Howard
	💍 1921/6674
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Polisher	Domestic
Age	48	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	4779
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Registrar

13 April 1921

Lewis Percy Hopkins
Ellen Salmon
formerly Salmon

Lewis Percy Hopkins
Ellen Salmon
💍 1921/6675

Bachelor
Spinster

Mill hand
Shop Assistant

25
18

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

6 months
6 months

St. Johns Cathedral, Napier

4780

Alice Henderson, Mother

13 April 1921

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	57
Date of Notice	13 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lewis Percy Hopkins	Ellen Salmon formerly Salmon
	💍 1921/6675
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mill hand	Shop Assistant
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral, Napier
Folio	4780
Consent	Alice Henderson, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

14 April 1921

George Arthur Double
Vina Grace Horne

George Arthur Double
Vina Grace Horne
💍 1921/6676

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Stenographer

24
22

Napier
Napier

24 years
7 days

Registrar's Office, Gisborne

4781

14 April 1921

H. Buchanan, Napier, Registrar

No	58
Date of Notice	14 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Arthur Double	Vina Grace Horne
	💍 1921/6676
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Stenographer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Gisborne
Folio	4781
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1921
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Napier, Registrar

20 April 1921

Bertie Edward Bartlett
Ivy Margaret Boult

Bertie Edward Bartlett
Ivy Margaret Boult
💍 1921/6677

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Shop Assistant

25
19

Napier
Napier

25 years
3 years

St. Patricks Church, Napier

4782

Agnes Theresa Boult, Mother

20 April 1921

Father Symons, Roman Catholic

No	59
Date of Notice	20 April 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Edward Bartlett	Ivy Margaret Boult
	💍 1921/6677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Shop Assistant
Age	25	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	4782
Consent	Agnes Theresa Boult, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 April 1921
Officiating Minister	Father Symons, Roman Catholic

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).