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 1352

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar R. B. Rathwall

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

5 August 1921

William McKinnon
Eva Emerson Horton

William McKinnon
Eva Emerson Horton
💍 1921/4122

Bachelor
Spinster

Crockery Business
Domestic duties

28
28

Gisborne
Hastings

12 years

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

7340

5 August 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	93
Date of Notice	5 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McKinnon	Eva Emerson Horton
	💍 1921/4122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Crockery Business	Domestic duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Hastings
Length of Residence		12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	7340
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

6 August 1921

Albert William Cleary
Maude Blanche Venus

Albert William Cleary
Maude Blanche Venis
💍 1921/4123

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

27
25

Whangarei
Hastings

2 months

St. Matthew's Church Hastings

7341

8 August 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	94
Date of Notice	6 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert William Cleary	Maude Blanche Venus
BDM Match (97%)	Albert William Cleary	Maude Blanche Venis
	💍 1921/4123
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Hastings
Length of Residence		2 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church Hastings
Folio	7341
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

9 August 1921

William Henry Fowler
Jessie Brierley

William Henry Fowler
Jessie Brierley
💍 1921/4124

Widower
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic duties

33
22

Hastings
Hastings

6 days
5 months

Methodist Church Hastings

7342

9 August 1921

Rev. Angus H. Bean, Methodist

No	95
Date of Notice	9 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fowler	Jessie Brierley
	💍 1921/4124
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 days	5 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Hastings
Folio	7342
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Angus H. Bean, Methodist

15 August 1921

Robert Baden Price
Sylvia Harbord

Robert Baden Price
Sylvia Harbord
💍 1921/4125

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Dressmaker

20
22

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
14 years

Church of England Hastings

7343

Henry Price (Father)

15 August 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	96
Date of Notice	15 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Baden Price	Sylvia Harbord
	💍 1921/4125
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Dressmaker
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	14 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Hastings
Folio	7343
Consent	Henry Price (Father)
Date of Certificate	15 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

15 August 1921

Percy William Farwell
Mary Campbell

Percy William Farnell
Mary Campbell
💍 1921/4126

Cyril William Duffull
Kei Campbell
💍 1921/5722

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
29

Hastings
Hastings

St. Andrew's Church Hastings

7344

15 August 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	97
Date of Notice	15 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy William Farwell	Mary Campbell
BDM Match (98%)	Percy William Farnell	Mary Campbell
	💍 1921/4126
BDM Match (63%)	Cyril William Duffull	Kei Campbell
	💍 1921/5722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church Hastings
Folio	7344
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, 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).