Intentions to Marry, 1922 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840507, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1922 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.

1922d contains pages 1291-1690, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1336

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

11 January 1922

Charles Herman Johansson
Jessie Pate

Charles Herman Johansson
Jessie Pate
💍 1922/1959

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Duties

28
26

Napier
Napier

5 years
4 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Napier

1708

11 January 1922

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	11 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herman Johansson	Jessie Pate
	💍 1922/1959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Duties
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	1708
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 January 1922
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

16 January 1922

Sydney Thomas Smith
Annie Young

Sydney Thomas Smith
Annie Young
💍 1922/1960

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Clerk

28
29

Masterton
Napier

12 years
29 years

Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri

1709

16 January 1922

J. Hay, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	16 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Thomas Smith	Annie Young
	💍 1922/1960
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Clerk
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1709
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1922
Officiating Minister	J. Hay, Presbyterian

19 January 1922

Herbert Humphrey Sheldon
Agnes Mary Kerwin

Herbert Humphrey Sheldon
Agnes Mary Kerwin
💍 1922/1942

Divorced (Decree Absolute 14 April 1920)
Spinster

Sheep farmer
Housekeeper

48
39

Kawaka
Napier

5 years
8 months

St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri

1715

19 January 1922

F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Humphrey Sheldon	Agnes Mary Kerwin
	💍 1922/1942
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 14 April 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Sheep farmer	Housekeeper
Age	48	39
Dwelling Place	Kawaka	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	8 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1715
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1922
Officiating Minister	F. B. Redgrave, Church of England

24 January 1922

David Francis Alexander McKay
Elsie Vera Campbell

David Francis Alexander McKay
Elsie Vera Campbell
💍 1922/1937

Bachelor
Spinster

Seaman
Domestic Help

20
19

Napier
Napier

11 years
2 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

1710

Bessie McKay, Mother (for groom); Mary Kennedy formerly Campbell, Mother (for bride)

24 January 1922

Thomas Fisher, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	24 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Francis Alexander McKay	Elsie Vera Campbell
	💍 1922/1937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seaman	Domestic Help
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1710
Consent	Bessie McKay, Mother (for groom); Mary Kennedy formerly Campbell, Mother (for bride)
Date of Certificate	24 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Thomas Fisher, Church of England

28 January 1922

Sydney Jackson
Selina Elizabeth Trendell

Sydney Jackson
Selina Elizabeth Trendell
💍 1922/1938

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool classer
Domestic Duties

34
24

Clive
Clive

34 years
12 years

St. Marks Church, Clive

1711

28 January 1922

R. F. Geddes, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	28 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Jackson	Selina Elizabeth Trendell
	💍 1922/1938
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool classer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	34 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Clive
Folio	1711
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 January 1922
Officiating Minister	R. F. Geddes, Church of England

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).