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 1350

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1921 Registrar D. Bradhwall

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

15 July 1921

Murdoch Dwight Munro
Eileen Frances Smith

Murdoch Might Munro
Eileen Frances Smith
💍 1921/4136

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher
Teacher

25
21

Omakere
Hastings

6 weeks
6 weeks

Rev. H. B. Bean's House. Queen St. Hastings

7330

15 July 1921

Rev. A. H. Bean Methodist

No	83
Date of Notice	15 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Murdoch Dwight Munro	Eileen Frances Smith
BDM Match (95%)	Murdoch Might Munro	Eileen Frances Smith
	💍 1921/4136
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher	Teacher
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Omakere	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Rev. H. B. Bean's House. Queen St. Hastings
Folio	7330
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean Methodist

18 July 1921

Douglas Frank Sturm
Gladys Mary Gardner

Douglas Frank Sturm
Gladys Mary Gardner
💍 1921/4137

Bachelor
Spinster

Mercantile Clerk
Domestic duties

22
24

Hastings
Hastings

22 years
21 years

Baptist Church

7331

18 July 1921

Pastor Lascelles Baptist

No	84
Date of Notice	18 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Frank Sturm	Gladys Mary Gardner
	💍 1921/4137
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mercantile Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	7331
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Pastor Lascelles Baptist

19 July 1921

Charles Athol Williams
Mary Russell Burr

Charles Athol Williams
Mary Russell Burr
💍 1921/4138

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

22
27

Te Ante
Hastings

22 years
4 years

St. Andrews Church

7332

19 July 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	19 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Athol Williams	Mary Russell Burr
	💍 1921/4138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	22	27
Dwelling Place	Te Ante	Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	7332
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay Presbyterian

21 July 1921

William John Brooking
Mary Syme Hastings

William John Brooking
Mary Syme Hastie
💍 1921/4139

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Yard Worker
Domestic duties

35
27

Hastings
Hastings

35 years
4 months

Presbyterian Church

7333

21 July 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay Presbyterian

No	86
Date of Notice	21 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Brooking	Mary Syme Hastings
BDM Match (92%)	William John Brooking	Mary Syme Hastie
	💍 1921/4139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Yard Worker	Domestic duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	35 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	7333
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay Presbyterian

25 July 1921

Allen Sykes
Irina Wilkie Watson

Allen Sykes
Mina Wilkie Watson
💍 1921/4140

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Clerk
Clerk

33
26

Hastings
Hastings

Boys Treholid's Hastings

7334

25 July 1921

Rev. A. H. Bean Methodist

No	87
Date of Notice	25 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allen Sykes	Irina Wilkie Watson
BDM Match (95%)	Allen Sykes	Mina Wilkie Watson
	💍 1921/4140
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Clerk	Clerk
Age	33	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Boys Treholid's Hastings
Folio	7334
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Bean Methodist

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).