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 1356

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1921 Registrar D. B. Mathwaili

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

110

21 October 1921

Arthur Bertie Tuller
Margaret Ellen Morrison

Arthur Bertie Miller
Margaret Ellen Morrison
💍 1921/3844

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Grower
Clerk

24
22

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
1 week

Methodist Church, Hastings

9885

21 October 1921

Rev. A. R. Bean, Methodist

No	110
Date of Notice	21 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Bertie Tuller	Margaret Ellen Morrison
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Bertie Miller	Margaret Ellen Morrison
	💍 1921/3844
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Grower	Clerk
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	9885
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. R. Bean, Methodist

111

24 October 1921

Oswald Rupert Page
Eileen Flora Wedd

Oswald Rupert Page
Eileen Nora Wedd
💍 1921/3845

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Farmer
Domestic duties

23
21

Hastings
Otane

12 months
21 days

St. Andrews Church

9886

24 October 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	24 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Oswald Rupert Page	Eileen Flora Wedd
BDM Match (94%)	Oswald Rupert Page	Eileen Nora Wedd
	💍 1921/3845
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Otane
Length of Residence	12 months	21 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	9886
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

112

24 October 1921

James Robert Shoesmith
Ethel Charlotte Brooking

James Robert Shoesmith
Ethel Charlotte Brooking
💍 1921/3846

Bachelor
Widow

Labourer
Domestic duties

36
32

Hastings
Hastings

4 days

Presbyterian Church

9887

24 October 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	112
Date of Notice	24 October 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robert Shoesmith	Ethel Charlotte Brooking
	💍 1921/3846
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	36	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence		4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	9887
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

113

4 November 1921

William Kirkwood Lord
Ethel Lord

William Kirkwood
Ethel Lord
💍 1921/3847

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

38
37

Hastings
Havelock North

12 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church

9888

4 November 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	113
Date of Notice	4 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Kirkwood Lord	Ethel Lord
BDM Match (88%)	William Kirkwood	Ethel Lord
	💍 1921/3847
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	12 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	9888
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

114

8 November 1921

Matthew James McKenna
Marie Louisa Stanich

Matthew James McKenna
Marie Louisa Stanish
💍 1921/3848

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
25

Hastings
Hastings

6 weeks
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Church

9889

8 November 1921

Rev. Father T. A. Hony, Roman Catholic

No	114
Date of Notice	8 November 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew James McKenna	Marie Louisa Stanich
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew James McKenna	Marie Louisa Stanish
	💍 1921/3848
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	9889
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 November 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father T. A. Hony, 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).