Intentions to Marry, 1923 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840515, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1923 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.

1923d contains pages 1335-1744, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1353

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

3 January 1923

David Low Duncan
Kathleen Jean Douglas

David Low Duncan
Kathleen Jean Douglas
💍 1923/2264

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

27
20

Poukawa, Hastings
Te Mahanga, Hastings

3 years
20 years

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

1833

K. H. Douglas, mother, Te Mahanga

3 January 1923

Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Low Duncan	Kathleen Jean Douglas
	💍 1923/2264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Poukawa, Hastings	Te Mahanga, Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	1833
Consent	K. H. Douglas, mother, Te Mahanga
Date of Certificate	3 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon Maclean, Anglican

4 January 1923

Edward Joseph Casey
Elsie Muller

Edward Joseph Casey
Elsie Muller
💍 1923/2265

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Domestic Duties

30
21

Hastings
Hastings

14 days
2 months

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

1834

4 January 1923

Father McDonald, Catholic Priest

No	2
Date of Notice	4 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Joseph Casey	Elsie Muller
	💍 1923/2265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	1834
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Father McDonald, Catholic Priest

8 January 1923

Joseph Anderson Halliday
Mary Martin

Joseph Anderson Halliday
Mary Martin
💍 1923/2242

Bachelor
Widow (7 August 1922)

Bowman
Cook

39
42

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
3 days

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1835

8 January 1923

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	8 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Anderson Halliday	Mary Martin
	💍 1923/2242
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (7 August 1922)
Profession	Bowman	Cook
Age	39	42
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1835
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

15 January 1923

Walter Henry Horton
Mary Cameron

Walter Henry Horton
Mary Cameron
💍 1923/2243

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic Duties

22
18

Hastings
Residence of W. H. Horton, Frimley Avenue, Hastings

3 months
1 week

Residence of W. H. Horton, Frimley Avenue, Hastings

1836

Ellen Catherine Quilter, Mother, Taihape

15 January 1923

Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	15 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Henry Horton	Mary Cameron
	💍 1923/2243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Residence of W. H. Horton, Frimley Avenue, Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	1 week
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Horton, Frimley Avenue, Hastings
Folio	1836
Consent	Ellen Catherine Quilter, Mother, Taihape
Date of Certificate	15 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. McBean, Methodist

25 January 1923

Ernest Albert Brerar
Maude Ethel Cole

Ernest Albert Crerar
Maude Ethel Cole
💍 1923/2244

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Shop Assistant

27
27

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
3 years

St. Matthew's Church, Hastings

1837

25 January 1923

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	25 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Brerar	Maude Ethel Cole
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Albert Crerar	Maude Ethel Cole
	💍 1923/2244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Shop Assistant
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Hastings
Folio	1837
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).