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 1329

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar R. B. Rathbone

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

27 October 1922

Sydney Ebbett
Rachael Flora Duncan

Sydney Ebbett
Rachael Flora Duncan
💍 1922/6267

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

45
35

Hastings
Hastings

45 years
12 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

8754

27 October 1922

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	82
Date of Notice	27 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Ebbett	Rachael Flora Duncan
	💍 1922/6267
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	45	35
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	45 years	12 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	8754
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

1 November 1922

Eric Oliver Maney
Mary Beatrice Green

Eric Oliver Maney
Mary Beatrice Green
💍 1922/6272

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic duties

25
25

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

8755

1 November 1922

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	83
Date of Notice	1 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Oliver Maney	Mary Beatrice Green
	💍 1922/6272
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	8755
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

7 November 1922

William Brown Thomson
Lillian Mildred Harmer

William Brown Thomson
Lillian Mildred Harmer
💍 1922/6273

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Domestic duties

25
27

Hastings
Hastings

9 days
10 days

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

8756

7 November 1922

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	7 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown Thomson	Lillian Mildred Harmer
	💍 1922/6273
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Domestic duties
Age	25	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	9 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	8756
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

11 November 1922

David Smith
Florence Jane Elizabeth Lincoln

David Smith
Florence Jane Elizabeth Lincoln
💍 1922/6274

Widower
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

39
22

Hastings
Hastings

14 years
22 years

Residence of Mr. Heaps, Southland Road, Hastings

8757

11 November 1922

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	85
Date of Notice	11 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Smith	Florence Jane Elizabeth Lincoln
	💍 1922/6274
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	39	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. Heaps, Southland Road, Hastings
Folio	8757
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

15 November 1922

Francis Christian Berkahn
Emily Louisa Pouranz

Francis Christian Berkahn
Emily Louisa Pomranz
💍 1922/6275

Bachelor
Spinster

Shearer
Domestic duties

26
21

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
15 months

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

8758

15 November 1922

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	86
Date of Notice	15 November 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Christian Berkahn	Emily Louisa Pouranz
BDM Match (98%)	Francis Christian Berkahn	Emily Louisa Pomranz
	💍 1922/6275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Domestic duties
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	15 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	8758
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 November 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

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).