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 1340

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar D. 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

26 March 1921

William Innes Campbell
Mary Kellow Burnett

William Innes Campbell
Mary Kellow Burnett
💍 1921/9381

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber Merchant
Clerk

28
27

Hastings
Hastings

27 years
11 years

St. Andrew's Church

2017

24 March 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	26 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Innes Campbell	Mary Kellow Burnett
	💍 1921/9381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber Merchant	Clerk
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	27 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	2017
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

24 March 1921

Frank Foster
Eileen Alice Gray

Frank Foster
Eileen Alice Gray
💍 1921/9382

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

27
25

Hastings
Gisborne

2 weeks

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

2018

24 March 1921

Rev Canon Lush, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	24 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Foster	Eileen Alice Gray
	💍 1921/9382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	2018
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev Canon Lush, Anglican

26 March 1921

Fennell Bowen Hall
Alice Agnes Sweeney

Fennell Bowen Hall
Alice Agnes Sweeney
💍 1921/9383

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Domestic Duties

24
26

Hastings
Hastings

12 months
12 months

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

2019

26 March 1921

Rev G. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

No	38
Date of Notice	26 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Fennell Bowen Hall	Alice Agnes Sweeney
	💍 1921/9383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	2019
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Mahoney, Roman Catholic

29 March 1921

Henry Douglas Lange
Elizabeth Macdonald

Henry Douglas Craig Lange
Elizabeth Macdonald
💍 1921/10131

Maurice Weldon Champneys Claris
Elizabeth Macdonald
💍 1921/7497

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

35
27

Havelock North
Havelock North

4 days
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

2928

29 March 1921

Rev R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	29 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Douglas Lange	Elizabeth Macdonald
BDM Match (88%)	Henry Douglas Craig Lange	Elizabeth Macdonald
	💍 1921/10131
BDM Match (61%)	Maurice Weldon Champneys Claris	Elizabeth Macdonald
	💍 1921/7497
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	2928
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev R. Waugh, Presbyterian

31 March 1921

John Rutherford
Sarah Beynon

John Rutherford
Sarah Beynon
💍 1921/9385

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

39
35

Hastings
Hastings

6 days
4 days

Registrar's Office, Hastings

2020

31 March 1921

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	40
Date of Notice	31 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Rutherford	Sarah Beynon
	💍 1921/9385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	39	35
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	2020
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

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).