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 1334

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1921 Registrar R. B. 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

12 January 1921

Donald Campbell
Jessie McKenzie

William Legg
Bessie McKenzie
💍 1921/5371

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
29

Hastings
Hastings

7 days
7 days

Residence of W. Campbell, Murdock Rd, Hastings

1988

12 January 1921

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	12 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Campbell	Jessie McKenzie
BDM Match (60%)	William Legg	Bessie McKenzie
	💍 1921/5371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Residence of W. Campbell, Murdock Rd, Hastings
Folio	1988
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

18 January 1921

John Williams
Gladys Ruby Jones

John Williams
Gladys Ruby Jones
💍 1921/9353

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

26
23

Kereru, Hastings
Kereru, Hastings

26 years 4 months
26 years 4 months

Methodist Church, Hastings

1989

18 January 1921

Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Williams	Gladys Ruby Jones
	💍 1921/9353
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Kereru, Hastings	Kereru, Hastings
Length of Residence	26 years 4 months	26 years 4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1989
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

18 January 1921

Stanley Douglas Marshall
Elizabeth Warnock

Stanley Douglas Marshall
Elizabeth Warnock
💍 1921/9354

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

26
31

Hastings
Waipawa

24 years
-

Registrar's Office, Hastings

1990

18 January 1921

Robert Brathwaite

No	8
Date of Notice	18 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Douglas Marshall	Elizabeth Warnock
	💍 1921/9354
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	26	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Waipawa
Length of Residence	24 years	-
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	1990
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite

24 January 1921

Donald Gow Lowe
Elsie Susan Frethey

Donald Gow Lowe
Elsie Susan Frethey
💍 1921/9355

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Hand
Domestic Duties

26
29

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
30 days

Methodist Church, Hastings

1991

24 January 1921

Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Gow Lowe	Elsie Susan Frethey
	💍 1921/9355
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	26	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	30 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1991
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

26 January 1921

Daniel Phillips McIntyre
Elsie Thain

Daniel Phillips McIntyre
Elsie Thain
💍 1921/9356

Widower
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

32
24

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

Presbyterian Church

1992

26 January 1921

Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	26 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Daniel Phillips McIntyre	Elsie Thain
	💍 1921/9356
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	1992
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

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).