Intentions to Marry, 1921 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840503, 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.

1921h contains pages 3127-3538, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3277

District of 30 September 1921 Quarter ending Palmerston Registrar G. L. Coates

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

9 July 1921

Alexander John Trotter
Sarah Jane Bootter

Alexander John Trotter
Sarah Jane Bootten
💍 1921/4626

Bachelor
Spinster

Coal Miner
Domestic Duties

25
18

Palmerston
Palmerston

17 years
5 years

Dwelling of Mr. Wm Bootter, Palmerston

7927

William Bootter, Father

9 July 1921

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	9 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander John Trotter	Sarah Jane Bootter
BDM Match (97%)	Alexander John Trotter	Sarah Jane Bootten
	💍 1921/4626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coal Miner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	17 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. Wm Bootter, Palmerston
Folio	7927
Consent	William Bootter, Father
Date of Certificate	9 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

23 July 1921

Allan Melville Taylor
Isabella Gillies Messer

Allan Melville Taylor
Isabella Gillies Messer
💍 1921/4633

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

20
23

Palmerston
Palmerston

20 years
23 years

Dwelling of Mr. G. A. Messer, Palmerston

7928

Marion Taylor, Mother

23 July 1921

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	23 July 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Melville Taylor	Isabella Gillies Messer
	💍 1921/4633
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston	Palmerston
Length of Residence	20 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Mr. G. A. Messer, Palmerston
Folio	7928
Consent	Marion Taylor, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 July 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

16 August 1921

David Alexander Cram
Alexandrina Elizabeth Croot

David Alexander Oram
Alexandrina Elizabeth Croot
💍 1921/4634

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Domestic Duties

22
19

Temaru
Palmerston

8 years
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Palmerston

7929

Alexandrina McKay, Mother

16 August 1921

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	16 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Alexander Cram	Alexandrina Elizabeth Croot
BDM Match (98%)	David Alexander Oram	Alexandrina Elizabeth Croot
	💍 1921/4634
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	19
Dwelling Place	Temaru	Palmerston
Length of Residence	8 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Palmerston
Folio	7929
Consent	Alexandrina McKay, Mother
Date of Certificate	16 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

22 August 1921

Frederick Allen Ellis
Evelyn Ellen O'Neill

Frederick Allen Ellis
Evelyn Ellen O'Neill
💍 1921/4635

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Accountant
Domestic Duties

28
26

Rangiora
Palmerston

3 days
26 years

Residence of Hugh O'Neill, Palmerston

7930

22 August 1921

Rev. Thomas S. Kavanagh, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	22 August 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Allen Ellis	Evelyn Ellen O'Neill
	💍 1921/4635
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Rangiora	Palmerston
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Hugh O'Neill, Palmerston
Folio	7930
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 August 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas S. Kavanagh, Roman Catholic

13 September 1921

Thomas Glover
Pearl Ellen Murphy

Thomas Glover
Pearl Ellen Murphy
💍 1921/4636

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Domestic Duties

20
19

Dunback
Dunback

20 years
19 years

Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston

7931

William Henry Glover, Father; Elizabeth Murphy, Mother

13 September 1921

Rev. Thos S. Kavanagh, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	13 September 1921
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Glover	Pearl Ellen Murphy
	💍 1921/4636
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Domestic Duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Dunback	Dunback
Length of Residence	20 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston
Folio	7931
Consent	William Henry Glover, Father; Elizabeth Murphy, Mother
Date of Certificate	13 September 1921
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thos S. Kavanagh, Roman Catholic

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).