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 1344

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

2 May 1921

Samuel Herbison
Myrtle Violet Augusta Lean

Samuel Herbison
Myrtle Violet Augusta Lean
💍 1921/6616

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
25

Havelock North
Pukahu

8 years
23 years

Pukahu Church

4752

2 May 1921

Rev. H. E. Eldridge, Baptist

No	56
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Herbison	Myrtle Violet Augusta Lean
	💍 1921/6616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Pukahu
Length of Residence	8 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Pukahu Church
Folio	4752
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. E. Eldridge, Baptist

2 May 1921

William Leslie Pelson
Gretchen Mary Smith

William Leslie Nelson
Gretchen Mary Smith
💍 1921/6623

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

23
21

Hastings
Taradale

23 years
21 years

St. Matthew's Church

4753

2 May 1921

Rev Canon Arthur Williams, Anglican

No	57
Date of Notice	2 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Leslie Pelson	Gretchen Mary Smith
BDM Match (98%)	William Leslie Nelson	Gretchen Mary Smith
	💍 1921/6623
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Taradale
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church
Folio	4753
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Canon Arthur Williams, Anglican

5 May 1921

Eli Allen
Mary Jane Smith

Eli Allen
Mary Jane Smith
💍 1921/6624

Widower
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

62
55

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
10 months

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

4754

5 May 1921

Rev R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	58
Date of Notice	5 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eli Allen	Mary Jane Smith
	💍 1921/6624
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	62	55
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	10 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	4754
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Hall, Anglican

6 May 1921

Roy Vivian Symonds
Rona Beck Kitchen

Roy Vivian Symonds
Rona Beck Kitchen
💍 1921/6625

Bachelor
Spinster

Pharmacist
Music Store Assistant

24
21

Hastings
Hastings

24 years
7 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

4755

6 May 1921

Rev R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	59
Date of Notice	6 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Vivian Symonds	Rona Beck Kitchen
	💍 1921/6625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Pharmacist	Music Store Assistant
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	4755
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R. J. Hall, Anglican

9 May 1921

Robert Hatherell
Kathleen Ellen Macdonald

Robert Mathews
Kathleen Ellen Macdonald
💍 1921/6626

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

31
19

Tikokino
Hastings

31 years
12 years

Catholic Church

4756

Ellen Mary Mother (formerly Macdonald)

9 May 1921

Rev Father Mahony, Catholic

No	60
Date of Notice	9 May 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hatherell	Kathleen Ellen Macdonald
BDM Match (84%)	Robert Mathews	Kathleen Ellen Macdonald
	💍 1921/6626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	19
Dwelling Place	Tikokino	Hastings
Length of Residence	31 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church
Folio	4756
Consent	Ellen Mary Mother (formerly Macdonald)
Date of Certificate	9 May 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Father Mahony, Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).