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 1433

District of Wairoa Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar J. B. Fletcher

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

21 January 1922

Edwin John Swan
Clara Edith Black

Edwin John Swan
Clara Edith Black
💍 1922/3138

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Dressmaker

43
37

Wairoa
Wairoa

11 years
Life

Residence of Bride's parents, Wairoa

1748

21 January 1922

Rev. Wm Raeburn, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	21 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Swan	Clara Edith Black
	💍 1922/3138
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Dressmaker
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	11 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's parents, Wairoa
Folio	1748
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Raeburn, Presbyterian

24 January 1922

Leslie Matheson
Elsie Winifred Duley

Leslie Matheson Loader
Elsie Winifred Duley
💍 1922/3139

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

22
20

Nuhaka
Nuhaka

3 months
9 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Nuhaka

1749

James Alexander Duley, Father

24 January 1922

Rev. James Shannon, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Matheson	Elsie Winifred Duley
BDM Match (84%)	Leslie Matheson Loader	Elsie Winifred Duley
	💍 1922/3139
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Nuhaka
Length of Residence	3 months	9 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Nuhaka
Folio	1749
Consent	James Alexander Duley, Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Shannon, Presbyterian

26 January 1922

Arthur James Gunnell
Annie Gilbert Steed

Arthur James Gunnell
Annie Gilbert Steed
💍 1922/3140

Bachelor
Widow

Storekeeper's assistant
Storekeeper

33
38

Frasertown
Frasertown

1 year
18 years

Church of England, Wairoa

1750

26 January 1922

Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	26 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur James Gunnell	Annie Gilbert Steed
	💍 1922/3140
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Storekeeper's assistant	Storekeeper
Age	33	38
Dwelling Place	Frasertown	Frasertown
Length of Residence	1 year	18 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Wairoa
Folio	1750
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

11 March 1922

Robin Waerea
Riria Tamepo

Robin Waerea
Riria Tamepo
💍 1922/1961

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Nuhaka
Nuhaka

22 years
6 months

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Wairoa

1751

11 March 1922

J. B. Fletcher, Registrar of Marriages, Wairoa

No	4
Date of Notice	11 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robin Waerea	Riria Tamepo
	💍 1922/1961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Nuhaka	Nuhaka
Length of Residence	22 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Wairoa
Folio	1751
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1922
Officiating Minister	J. B. Fletcher, Registrar of Marriages, Wairoa

14 March 1922

William James Browne
Helen Eliza Howard

William James Browne
Helen Eliza Howard
💍 1922/1972

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

20
19

Wairoa
Wairoa

20 years
18 months

St Pauls Church, Wairoa

1752

Thomas Browne (Father), Robert James Howard (Father)

14 March 1922

Rev. G. N. Watson, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	14 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Browne	Helen Eliza Howard
	💍 1922/1972
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	20 years	18 months
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Wairoa
Folio	1752
Consent	Thomas Browne (Father), Robert James Howard (Father)
Date of Certificate	14 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. N. Watson, 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).