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 1465

District of Waipawa Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. W. [illegible]

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

19 April 1923

Archibald Edward Francis Thomson
Margaret Norah Hobin

Archibald Edward Francis Thomson
Margaret Vivian Hobin
💍 1923/8999

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
27

South Makaretu
South Makaretu

34 years
27 years

St John Church, Waipawa

4451

19 April 1923

Rev. F. H. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	6
Date of Notice	19 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Edward Francis Thomson	Margaret Norah Hobin
BDM Match (88%)	Archibald Edward Francis Thomson	Margaret Vivian Hobin
	💍 1923/8999
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	27
Dwelling Place	South Makaretu	South Makaretu
Length of Residence	34 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St John Church, Waipawa
Folio	4451
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Robertson, Presbyterian

19 April 1923

Herbert Lewis Parkinson
Nesta Walker

Herbert Lewis Parkinson
Nesta Walker
💍 1923/9010

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
21

Tikokino
Tikokino

26 years
21 years

Methodist Church, Tikokino

4452

19 April 1923

Rev. H. S. Neal, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	19 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Lewis Parkinson	Nesta Walker
	💍 1923/9010
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	21
Dwelling Place	Tikokino	Tikokino
Length of Residence	26 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Tikokino
Folio	4452
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. S. Neal, Methodist

23 April 1923

Robert Andrew Colquhoun
Gisella Margaret Lambert

Robert Andrew Colquhon
Gisella Margaret Lambert
💍 1923/9016

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
18

Waipawa
Waipawa

16 years
6 years

Residence of Mr A. O. Lambert, Richmond Park, Waipawa

4453

Alfred Ocean Lambert, father

23 April 1923

Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	23 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Andrew Colquhoun	Gisella Margaret Lambert
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Andrew Colquhon	Gisella Margaret Lambert
	💍 1923/9016
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	16 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr A. O. Lambert, Richmond Park, Waipawa
Folio	4453
Consent	Alfred Ocean Lambert, father
Date of Certificate	23 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. W. Robertson, Presbyterian

16 May 1923

Edward Knott McSweeney
Constance Rosalyn Pickett

Edward Knobbs McSweeney
Constance Roslyn Pickett
💍 1923/9017

Bachelor
Spinster

Laborer
Domestic

34
21

Waipawa
Waipawa

12 months
3 weeks

Private residence of W. McSweeney, Waipawa

4454

16 May 1923

Rev. P. J. Minogue, R.C.

No	9
Date of Notice	16 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Knott McSweeney	Constance Rosalyn Pickett
BDM Match (92%)	Edward Knobbs McSweeney	Constance Roslyn Pickett
	💍 1923/9017
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Laborer	Domestic
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Waipawa	Waipawa
Length of Residence	12 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Private residence of W. McSweeney, Waipawa
Folio	4454
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Minogue, R.C.

18 May 1923

Frank Reeves
Bessie Dust

Frank Reeves
Bessie Dust
💍 1923/9018

Bachelor
Spinster

Farming
Nurse

28
24

Omerina
Omerina

25 years
14 days

St Peters Church, Waipawa

4455

18 May 1923

A. W. C. Stace, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	18 May 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Reeves	Bessie Dust
	💍 1923/9018
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farming	Nurse
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Omerina	Omerina
Length of Residence	25 years	14 days
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Waipawa
Folio	4455
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1923
Officiating Minister	A. W. C. Stace, 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).