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 1543

District of Foxton Quarter ending 31 December 1922 Registrar L. E. O. Bullard

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

2 October 1922

Norman Edmund Hughes
Ivy May Hudson

Norman Edmund Hughes
Ivy May Dudson
💍 1922/8702

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic Servant

28
24

Foxton
Foxton

2 years
24 years

Roman Catholic Church, Foxton

8870

2 October 1922

James Torristal, Roman Catholic

No	15
Date of Notice	2 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Edmund Hughes	Ivy May Hudson
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Edmund Hughes	Ivy May Dudson
	💍 1922/8702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Servant
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	2 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Foxton
Folio	8870
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 October 1922
Officiating Minister	James Torristal, Roman Catholic

3 October 1922

Henry Castle
Beatrice Mary Barry

Henry Castle
Beatrice Mary Barry
💍 1922/8703

Bachelor
Widow (11-10-19)

Laborer
Domestic Duty

56
47

Foxton
Foxton

35 years
3 years

Office of the Registrar, Foxton

8871

3 October 1922

V. J. Delany, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	3 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Castle	Beatrice Mary Barry
	💍 1922/8703
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (11-10-19)
Profession	Laborer	Domestic Duty
Age	56	47
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	35 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Foxton
Folio	8871
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 October 1922
Officiating Minister	V. J. Delany, Registrar

16 October 1922

Charles Henry Ellis
Annie Cordelia Leighton

Charles Henry Ellis
Annie Cordelia Leighton
💍 1922/8705

Widower (18-5-21)
Divorced (Decree absolute 29-8-22)

Draper
Domestic Duties

53
32

Himatangi
Rongotea

3 days
3 weeks

Office of the Registrar, Foxton

8872

16 October 1922

V. J. Delany, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	16 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Henry Ellis	Annie Cordelia Leighton
	💍 1922/8705
Condition	Widower (18-5-21)	Divorced (Decree absolute 29-8-22)
Profession	Draper	Domestic Duties
Age	53	32
Dwelling Place	Himatangi	Rongotea
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Foxton
Folio	8872
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 October 1922
Officiating Minister	V. J. Delany, Registrar

28 October 1922

William James Henry Lover
Vera Rankin

William James Henry Lover
Vera Rankin
💍 1922/8706

Bachelor
Widow (4-5-20)

Cheese Factory assistant
Domestic Duties

22
31

Rangiotu
Rangiotu

5 years
13 years

Church of England, Foxton

8873

28 October 1922

W. H. Walton, Anglican

No	18
Date of Notice	28 October 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Henry Lover	Vera Rankin
	💍 1922/8706
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4-5-20)
Profession	Cheese Factory assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	22	31
Dwelling Place	Rangiotu	Rangiotu
Length of Residence	5 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Foxton
Folio	8873
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 October 1922
Officiating Minister	W. H. Walton, Anglican

28 December 1922

Allan Russell Wills
Elsie May Brewer

Allan Russell Wills
Elsie May Brewer
💍 1923/1114

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Draper's assistant

25
21

Foxton
Foxton

5 days
9 years

Office of the Registrar, Foxton

28 December 1922

V. J. Delany, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	28 December 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan Russell Wills	Elsie May Brewer
	💍 1923/1114
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Draper's assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Foxton
Length of Residence	5 days	9 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar, Foxton
Folio	69
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1922
Officiating Minister	V. J. Delany, Registrar

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).