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 1310

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

13 January 1922

Walter Bicknell
Muriel Ellis

Walter Bicknell
Muriel Ellis
💍 1922/1914

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer Machinist
Clerk

27
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1687

13 January 1922

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	6
Date of Notice	13 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Bicknell	Muriel Ellis
	💍 1922/1914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer Machinist	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1687
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

18 January 1922

William Orton Cowan
Edith Isabel Masters

William Orton Cowan
Edith Isabel Masters
💍 1922/1915

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Bank Clerk

25
25

Hastings
Hastings

2 1/2 years
25 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1688

18 January 1922

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	18 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Orton Cowan	Edith Isabel Masters
	💍 1922/1915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Bank Clerk
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1688
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

19 January 1922

Arthur Young
Mabel Harper

Arthur Young
Mabel Harper
💍 1922/1916

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Nurse

31
24

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
1 year

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1689

19 January 1922

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	19 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Young	Mabel Harper
	💍 1922/1916
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Nurse
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1689
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

25 January 1922

Robert Herbison
Catherine Tucker

Robert Herbison
Catherine Tucker
💍 1922/1917

Widower
Spinster

Woolclasser
Domestic Duties

65
32

Whakatu, Hastings
Whakatu, Hastings

7 years
32 years

St. Columba's Church, Havelock North

1690

25 January 1922

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	25 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Herbison	Catherine Tucker
	💍 1922/1917
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Woolclasser	Domestic Duties
Age	65	32
Dwelling Place	Whakatu, Hastings	Whakatu, Hastings
Length of Residence	7 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Columba's Church, Havelock North
Folio	1690
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

27 January 1922

William Gordon
Jessie Margaret McLennan

William Gordon
Jessie Margaret McLennan
💍 1922/1918

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

40
30

Taradale
Hastings

2 years
10 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1691

27 January 1922

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon	Jessie Margaret McLennan
	💍 1922/1918
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	40	30
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1691
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, 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).