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 1358

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

120

29 November 1921

Joshua Malcolm Clark
Kathleen Ethel Ings

Joshua Malcolm Clark
Kathleen Ethel Ings
💍 1921/3855

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

30
30

Matapiro
Matapiro

5 1/2 years
8 months

Registrar's Office Hastings

9895

29 November 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	29 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joshua Malcolm Clark	Kathleen Ethel Ings
	💍 1921/3855
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	30	30
Dwelling Place	Matapiro	Matapiro
Length of Residence	5 1/2 years	8 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	9895
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

121

1 December 1921

Edward Egan
Margaret Ann Matheson

Edward Egan
Margaret Ann Matheson
💍 1921/3856

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
26

Hastings
Hastings

18 months
4 years

Methodist Church Hastings

9896

1 December 1921

Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

No	121
Date of Notice	1 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Egan	Margaret Ann Matheson
	💍 1921/3856
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	18 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hastings
Folio	9896
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean, Methodist

122

1 December 1921

Fred Blakey
Maggie Amelia Sullivan

Fred Blakey
Maggie Amelia Sullivan
💍 1921/3857

Widower (21 March 1909)
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

36
27

Onga Onga
Hastings

2 weeks

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

9897

1 December 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	122
Date of Notice	1 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fred Blakey	Maggie Amelia Sullivan
	💍 1921/3857
Condition	Widower (21 March 1909)	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Onga Onga	Hastings
Length of Residence		2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	9897
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

123

4 December 1921

Thomas Henry Hewetson
Lily Stockham Dobson

Thomas Henry Hewetson
Lily Stockham Dobson
💍 1921/3858

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Clerk

24
25

Havelock North
Hastings

2 years
10 years

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

9898

7 December 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	123
Date of Notice	4 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Hewetson	Lily Stockham Dobson
	💍 1921/3858
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	9898
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

124

4 December 1921

Duncan Stewart Parker
Gertrude Tucker

Duncan Stewart
Gertrude Tucker
💍 1921/10731

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Home Duties

31
23

Otago
Havelock Whakatu

Presbyterian Church Havelock N.Z.

10656

7 December 1921

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	124
Date of Notice	4 December 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Duncan Stewart Parker	Gertrude Tucker
BDM Match (83%)	Duncan Stewart	Gertrude Tucker
	💍 1921/10731
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Home Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Otago	Havelock Whakatu
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Havelock N.Z.
Folio	10656
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

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).