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 1637

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 31 March 1922 Registrar D. D. Tonche

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

26 January 1922

Karl Alfred Torval Christiansen
Joy Evensen

Karl Wilfred Torval Christiansen
Ivy Evensen
💍 1922/2013

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

18
22

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

1837

Peter Jens Christiansen, Father

26 January 1922

D. D. Tonche, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	26 January 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Karl Alfred Torval Christiansen	Joy Evensen
BDM Match (88%)	Karl Wilfred Torval Christiansen	Ivy Evensen
	💍 1922/2013
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	18	22
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	1837
Consent	Peter Jens Christiansen, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1922
Officiating Minister	D. D. Tonche, Registrar

4 February 1922

William Henry Kilmister
Eliza Turner

William Henry Kilmister
Eliza Turner
💍 1922/2014

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand
Domestic Duties

19
21

Mangamaire
Mangamaire

5 years
4 years

Church of England, Pahiatua

1838

Ernest Henry Kilmister, Father

4 February 1922

Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	4 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Kilmister	Eliza Turner
	💍 1922/2014
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand	Domestic Duties
Age	19	21
Dwelling Place	Mangamaire	Mangamaire
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	1838
Consent	Ernest Henry Kilmister, Father
Date of Certificate	4 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

20 February 1922

Raymond Thomas Jaywell
Olive Maude Sunnex

Raymond Thomas Saywell
Olive Maude Sunnex
💍 1922/2015

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic Duties

28
19

Hamua
Konini

6 months
5 years

Church of England, Pahiatua

1839

Richard John Oliver Sunnex, Father

20 February 1922

Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

No	3
Date of Notice	20 February 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Thomas Jaywell	Olive Maude Sunnex
BDM Match (98%)	Raymond Thomas Saywell	Olive Maude Sunnex
	💍 1922/2015
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic Duties
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Hamua	Konini
Length of Residence	6 months	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	1839
Consent	Richard John Oliver Sunnex, Father
Date of Certificate	20 February 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

6 March 1922

Robert Henry Haines
Doris Hercock

Robert Henry Haines
Doris Hercock
💍 1922/2016

Bachelor
Spinster

Woodcutter
Domestic Servant

27
23

Konini
Konini

2 days
7 days

Church of England, Konini

1840

6 March 1922

Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	6 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Haines	Doris Hercock
	💍 1922/2016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Woodcutter	Domestic Servant
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Konini	Konini
Length of Residence	2 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Konini
Folio	1840
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

7 March 1922

Walter Fleetwood Rowell
Amy Myrtle Irene Cooper

Walter Fleetwood Rowell
Amy Myrtle Irene Cooper
💍 1922/2017

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
23

Pahiatua
Hukanui

3 days
23 years

Church of England, Pahiatua

1841

7 March 1922

Rev. H. M. Monaghan, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	7 March 1922
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Fleetwood Rowell	Amy Myrtle Irene Cooper
	💍 1922/2017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Hukanui
Length of Residence	3 days	23 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	1841
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1922
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Monaghan, 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).