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 1346

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1921 Registrar Robert 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

11 June 1921

Hugh Muir Steele
Ada June Hewitt

Hugh Muir Steele
Ada June Hewitt
💍 1921/6608

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

27
21

Hastings
Hastings

10 days
10 days

Mr Hewitt's House, 108 Heretaunga St, Hastings

4762

11 June 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	66
Date of Notice	11 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Muir Steele	Ada June Hewitt
	💍 1921/6608
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Mr Hewitt's House, 108 Heretaunga St, Hastings
Folio	4762
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

11 June 1921

Ralph Douglas Lawlor
Annie Dora Lawlor

Ralph Douglas
Annie Cora Lawlor
💍 1921/6609

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

24
19

Napier
Hastings

13 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

4763

Theodore Lawlor, Father

11 June 1921

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	67
Date of Notice	11 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Douglas Lawlor	Annie Dora Lawlor
BDM Match (80%)	Ralph Douglas	Annie Cora Lawlor
	💍 1921/6609
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence		13 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	4763
Consent	Theodore Lawlor, Father
Date of Certificate	11 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

11 June 1921

Francis Ellery
Mary Ellen Bosgrave

Francis Ellery
Mary Ellen Cosgrave
💍 1921/6610

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Saleswoman

30
28

Fielding
Hastings

1 month

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4764

11 June 1921

Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

No	68
Date of Notice	11 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Ellery	Mary Ellen Bosgrave
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Ellery	Mary Ellen Cosgrave
	💍 1921/6610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Saleswoman
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Fielding	Hastings
Length of Residence		1 month
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4764
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Mahony, Roman Catholic

11 June 1921

Ernest Grant
Laura Elwin

Ernest Grant
Laura Elwin
💍 1921/6611

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

28
19

Hastings
Hastings

5 days
5 days

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4765

Charles Elwin, Father

13 June 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	69
Date of Notice	11 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Grant	Laura Elwin
	💍 1921/6611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 days	5 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4765
Consent	Charles Elwin, Father
Date of Certificate	13 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

15 June 1921

Herbert Austin Smith
Linda Doreen Martha Brown

Herbert Austin Smith
Linda Doreen Martha Devenie
💍 1921/6612

Bachelor
Spinster

Registrar's Office

27
24

Hastings
Hastings

4 years

4766

15 June 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	70
Date of Notice	15 June 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Austin Smith	Linda Doreen Martha Brown
BDM Match (89%)	Herbert Austin Smith	Linda Doreen Martha Devenie
	💍 1921/6612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Registrar's Office
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence		4 years
Marriage Place
Folio	4766
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

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).