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 1569

District of Feilding Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar J. J. Williams

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 January 1923

Philip Ray Chandler
Dorothy Minnie Walker

Philip Ray Chandler
Dorothy Minnie Walker
💍 1923/934

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter factory hand
Household duties

24
24

Makino
Makino

7 years
6 years

St Johns church, Feilding

1935

19 January 1923

Rev. F. H. Petrie, Anglican

No	1
Date of Notice	19 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Ray Chandler	Dorothy Minnie Walker
	💍 1923/934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter factory hand	Household duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Makino	Makino
Length of Residence	7 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Johns church, Feilding
Folio	1935
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie, Anglican

23 January 1923

William Benoni Sandilands
Gladys Jean Pask

William Benoni Sandilands
Gladys Ilean Pask
💍 1923/2920

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Household duties

23
22

Kiwitea
Kiwitea

3 years
2 years

Residence of Ernest Pack, Colyton

2642

23 January 1923

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	23 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Benoni Sandilands	Gladys Jean Pask
BDM Match (94%)	William Benoni Sandilands	Gladys Ilean Pask
	💍 1923/2920
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Household duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Kiwitea	Kiwitea
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Ernest Pack, Colyton
Folio	2642
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

24 January 1923

Horace Haycock
Ada Annie Catherine Murray

Horace Haycock
Nora Annie Catherine Murray
💍 1923/935

Bachelor
Spinster

Steward
Domestic duties

23
22

Feilding
Feilding

15 years
11 years

Methodist church, Feilding

1936

24 January 1923

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	3
Date of Notice	24 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Haycock	Ada Annie Catherine Murray
BDM Match (94%)	Horace Haycock	Nora Annie Catherine Murray
	💍 1923/935
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Steward	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	15 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist church, Feilding
Folio	1936
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

5 February 1923

William Sydney Henry Murray
Pearl Agnes Janet Murray

William Sydney Henry Murrow
Pearl Agnes Janet Murray
💍 1923/936

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Official
Waitress

23
21

Feilding
Feilding

6 days
11 years

Methodist church, Feilding

1937

5 February 1923

Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	5 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Sydney Henry Murray	Pearl Agnes Janet Murray
BDM Match (96%)	William Sydney Henry Murrow	Pearl Agnes Janet Murray
	💍 1923/936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Official	Waitress
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	6 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist church, Feilding
Folio	1937
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Stockwell, Methodist

6 February 1923

Louis James Hunt
Edith Ivy George

Louis James Hunt
Edith Ivy George
💍 1923/937

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

23
18

Rangotea
Feilding

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mrs K. Death, Derby Street, Feilding

1938

William James George, Father

6 February 1923

Rev. P. J. Jones, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	6 February 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Louis James Hunt	Edith Ivy George
	💍 1923/937
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Rangotea	Feilding
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs K. Death, Derby Street, Feilding
Folio	1938
Consent	William James George, Father
Date of Certificate	6 February 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Jones, Methodist

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).