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 1535

District of Carterton Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. W. Hodgson

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

12 January 1923

Eustace Manley Talbot
Jessie Evelyn Thelma Saywell

Eustace Manley Talbot
Jessie Evelyn Thelma Saywell
💍 1923/944

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

37
25

Waiohine Valley, Carterton
Maharawa, Carterton

4 years
25 years

Residence of Wm Saywell, Maharawa

1927

12 January 1923

Rev. A. M. Costain, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eustace Manley Talbot	Jessie Evelyn Thelma Saywell
	💍 1923/944
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	37	25
Dwelling Place	Waiohine Valley, Carterton	Maharawa, Carterton
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wm Saywell, Maharawa
Folio	1927
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Costain, Methodist

22 January 1923

Albert Desmond
Evelyn May Irene Cook

Albert Desmond
Evelyn May Irene Cook
💍 1923/951

Bachelor
Spinster

Billiard Marker
Domestic Duties

34
21

Carterton
Carterton

18 years
1 year

St Marks Church, Carterton

1928

22 January 1923

Rev. Robert Young, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	22 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Desmond	Evelyn May Irene Cook
	💍 1923/951
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Billiard Marker	Domestic Duties
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	18 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Carterton
Folio	1928
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Young, Church of England

30 January 1923

Alfred Dinsley
Hannah Martha Jensen

Alfred Tinsley
Hannah Martha Jensen
💍 1923/952

Widower (4 December 1921)
Widow (23 February 1920)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

46
44

Carterton
Waihakeke

5 years
38 years

Presbyterian Church, Carterton

1929

30 January 1923

J. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Dinsley	Hannah Martha Jensen
BDM Match (96%)	Alfred Tinsley	Hannah Martha Jensen
	💍 1923/952
Condition	Widower (4 December 1921)	Widow (23 February 1920)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	46	44
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Waihakeke
Length of Residence	5 years	38 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Carterton
Folio	1929
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	J. B. Black, Presbyterian

6 February 1923

Joseph Patrick McAnally
Marama Dorothy Hughes

Joseph Patrick McAnally
Marama Dorothy Hughes
💍 1923/953

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Lineman
Domestic Duties

26
27

Carterton
Carterton

5 days
27 years

St Marks Church, Carterton

1930

6 February 1923

R. Young, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	6 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Patrick McAnally	Marama Dorothy Hughes
	💍 1923/953
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Lineman	Domestic Duties
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	5 days	27 years
Marriage Place	St Marks Church, Carterton
Folio	1930
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 February 1923
Officiating Minister	R. Young, Church of England

21 March 1923

Greville Francis Seymour King
Mary Elizabeth Harris Laurenson

Melville Francis Seymour King
Mary Elizabeth Harris Laurenson
💍 1923/954

Bachelor
Spinster

Journalist
Clerk

25
23

Carterton
Carterton

25 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Carterton

1931

21 March 1923

S. H. D. Peryman, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	21 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Greville Francis Seymour King	Mary Elizabeth Harris Laurenson
BDM Match (95%)	Melville Francis Seymour King	Mary Elizabeth Harris Laurenson
	💍 1923/954
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Journalist	Clerk
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Carterton
Length of Residence	25 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Carterton
Folio	1931
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1923
Officiating Minister	S. H. D. Peryman, Methodist

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).