Intentions to Marry, 1921 Cust to Dunedin

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840502, 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.

1921g contains pages 2691-3126, covering districts from Cust to Dunedin

Page 2707

District of 31 March 1921 Quarter ending Geraldine Registrar F. A. Young

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

24 January 1921

Ernest Woods Palmer
Maud Emily Crafar

Ernest Woods Palmer
Maud Emily Crafar
💍 1921/9881

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

43
38

Rangitata
Belfield

Life
Life

Residence of S. Ellery, Belfield

2578

24 January 1921

Rev. J. Featherston, Primitive Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	24 January 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Woods Palmer	Maud Emily Crafar
	💍 1921/9881
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	43	38
Dwelling Place	Rangitata	Belfield
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of S. Ellery, Belfield
Folio	2578
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Featherston, Primitive Methodist

2 February 1921

Joseph Emmens Green
Elsie Hall

Joseph Edmund Green
Elsie Hall
💍 1921/9888

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
20

Hilton
Gapuskilly, Geraldine

10 years
Life

The Presbyterian Manse, Geraldine

2579

Thomas Hall, father

2 February 1921

Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	2 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Emmens Green	Elsie Hall
BDM Match (92%)	Joseph Edmund Green	Elsie Hall
	💍 1921/9888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Hilton	Gapuskilly, Geraldine
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	The Presbyterian Manse, Geraldine
Folio	2579
Consent	Thomas Hall, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

14 February 1921

John Ingham Brooke
Grenda Heather Monteith Elmslie

John Ingham Brooke
Gwenda Heather Monteith Elmslie
💍 1921/9889

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic duties

23
22

Dunedin
Geraldine

12 months
Life

Church of England, Geraldine

2580

14 February 1921

Rev. Harold Purchas, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	14 February 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ingham Brooke	Grenda Heather Monteith Elmslie
BDM Match (98%)	John Ingham Brooke	Gwenda Heather Monteith Elmslie
	💍 1921/9889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Geraldine
Length of Residence	12 months	Life
Marriage Place	Church of England, Geraldine
Folio	2580
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Harold Purchas, Church of England

9 March 1921

Robert Webb
Rachel Isabel Heney

Robert Webb
Rachel Isabel Heney
💍 1921/9890

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

36
28

Woodbury
Woodbury

Life
12 years

Residence of John Heney, Woodbury

2581

9 March 1921

Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	9 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Webb	Rachel Isabel Heney
	💍 1921/9890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Woodbury	Woodbury
Length of Residence	Life	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Heney, Woodbury
Folio	2581
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

11 March 1921

Clarence Frederick Turner
Margaret Mary Bella Elliott

Clarence Frederick Turner
Margaret Mary Bella Elliott
💍 1921/9891

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Tailoress

24
23

Geraldine
Geraldine

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church, Geraldine

2582

11 March 1921

Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	11 March 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Frederick Turner	Margaret Mary Bella Elliott
	💍 1921/9891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Tailoress
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Geraldine	Geraldine
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Geraldine
Folio	2582
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. D. Madill, Presbyterian

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).