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 1357

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar Robert 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

20 March 1923

William Arthur Darragh
Doris May Low

William Arthur Darragh
Doris May Low
💍 1923/2257

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
26

Napier
Hastings

3 days
7 years

Presbyterian Church, Napier

1849

20 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	21
Date of Notice	20 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Arthur Darragh	Doris May Low
	💍 1923/2257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Napier
Folio	1849
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

24 March 1923

Cyril James McNab
Elsie May Kenny

Cyril James McNab
Elsie May Kenny
💍 1923/2916

Cyril David Marshall Day
Ellen May Kenny
💍 1923/4055

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
22

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
15 years

Presbyterian Manse, Hastings

2638

24 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	22
Date of Notice	24 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril James McNab	Elsie May Kenny
	💍 1923/2916
BDM Match (61%)	Cyril David Marshall Day	Ellen May Kenny
	💍 1923/4055
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hastings
Folio	2638
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

24 March 1923

Alfred Mousson
Delsie Orrin Kerr

Alfred Musson
Delsie Orrin Kerr
💍 1923/2258

Bachelor
Spinster

Cabinetmaker
Domestic Duties

30
21

Waipukurau
Hastings

3 years
20 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1850

24 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	23
Date of Notice	24 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Mousson	Delsie Orrin Kerr
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Musson	Delsie Orrin Kerr
	💍 1923/2258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cabinetmaker	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1850
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

27 March 1923

Robert Robinson Harper
Agnes Sinclair

Robert Robinson Harper
Agnes Sinclair
💍 1923/2266

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Dressmaker

26
28

Dunedin
Hastings

6 years
3 months

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1851

27 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	24
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Robinson Harper	Agnes Sinclair
	💍 1923/2266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Dressmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1851
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

27 March 1923

Herbert Elliott
Mary Agnes Mitchell

Herbert Elliott
Mary Agnes Mitchell
💍 1923/2277

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Clerk

23
25

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
16 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1852

27 March 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	25
Date of Notice	27 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Elliott	Mary Agnes Mitchell
	💍 1923/2277
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Clerk
Age	23	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1852
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

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).