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 1463

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. A. Thorne

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

8 January 1923

James Richardson Gillespie
Harriott McKenzie Fleming

James Richardson Gillespie
Harriott McKenzie Fleming
💍 1923/2339

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

36
35

Motere Station, Waipawa
Kippo, Waipawa

15 years
35 years

Private residence of Mrs. H. M. Fleming, Kippo, Waipawa

1908

8 January 1923

J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Richardson Gillespie	Harriott McKenzie Fleming
	💍 1923/2339
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Motere Station, Waipawa	Kippo, Waipawa
Length of Residence	15 years	35 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. H. M. Fleming, Kippo, Waipawa
Folio	1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1923
Officiating Minister	J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

9 January 1923

Francis George Lucas
Ellen Adams

Francis George Lucas
Ellen Adams
💍 1923/2340

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

40
50

Hinerua
Hinerua

12 years
47 years

Private residence of Mrs. E. Adams, Hinerua

1909

9 January 1923

Mr. George Menzies, Brethren

No	2
Date of Notice	9 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Lucas	Ellen Adams
	💍 1923/2340
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	40	50
Dwelling Place	Hinerua	Hinerua
Length of Residence	12 years	47 years
Marriage Place	Private residence of Mrs. E. Adams, Hinerua
Folio	1909
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. George Menzies, Brethren

10 January 1923

Cyril Roger Rood
Mary Catherine Adair

Cyril Roper Rood
Mary Catherine Adair
💍 1923/2317

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
20

Ongaonga
Tikokino

28 years
20 years

Glenalvon, private residence of E. G. Rathbone, Tikokino

1910

Mary Veronica Rathbone, formerly Adair, Mother

10 January 1923

Eugene Carmine, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Roger Rood	Mary Catherine Adair
BDM Match (97%)	Cyril Roper Rood	Mary Catherine Adair
	💍 1923/2317
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Ongaonga	Tikokino
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Glenalvon, private residence of E. G. Rathbone, Tikokino
Folio	1910
Consent	Mary Veronica Rathbone, formerly Adair, Mother
Date of Certificate	10 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Eugene Carmine, Roman Catholic

14 February 1923

Joseph Ratley
Gertrude Mary Green

Joseph Pratley
Gertrude Mary Green
💍 1923/2318

Widower
Widow

Retired Storeman
Domestic duties

67
45

Waipawa
Waipawa

48 years
3 years

Dwelling of Joseph Ratley, Waipawa

1911

14 February 1923

Eugene Carmine, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	14 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Ratley	Gertrude Mary Green
BDM Match (93%)	Joseph Pratley	Gertrude Mary Green
	💍 1923/2318
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Retired Storeman	Domestic duties
Age	67	45
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	48 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of Joseph Ratley, Waipawa
Folio	1911
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Eugene Carmine, Roman Catholic

21 February 1923

William McNally Castles
Gertrude Jane Walker

William McNally Castles
Gertrude Jane Walker
💍 1923/2319

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

33
31

Ormondville
Waipawa

33 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Waipawa

1912

21 February 1923

J. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	21 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William McNally Castles	Gertrude Jane Walker
	💍 1923/2319
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Ormondville	Waipawa
Length of Residence	33 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Waipawa
Folio	1912
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1923
Officiating Minister	J. W. Robertson, 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).