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 1577

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar D. W. Price

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

11 July 1923

George James Adwell Lee
Lila Larania Lovell

George James Holwill Lee
Lila Lavania Lovell
💍 1923/4518

Bachelor
Spinster

Proprietor Livery Stable
Domestic Duties

30
28

Feilding
Woodville

14 Years

Residence of Wallace Young, Derby Street, Feilding

6812

11 July 1923

Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

No	32
Date of Notice	11 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George James Adwell Lee	Lila Larania Lovell
BDM Match (89%)	George James Holwill Lee	Lila Lavania Lovell
	💍 1923/4518
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Proprietor Livery Stable	Domestic Duties
Age	30	28
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Woodville
Length of Residence	14 Years
Marriage Place	Residence of Wallace Young, Derby Street, Feilding
Folio	6812
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. W. Jones, Methodist

19 July 1923

George Herbert Couchman
Nellie Beatrice Law

George Herbert Couchman
Nellie Beatrice Law
💍 1923/4519

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheese maker
Domestic Duties

25
30

Feilding
Feilding

6 weeks
9 Years

Presbyterian Church, Feilding

6813

19 July 1923

Rev. J. Miller, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	19 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Couchman	Nellie Beatrice Law
	💍 1923/4519
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheese maker	Domestic Duties
Age	25	30
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	6 weeks	9 Years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	6813
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Miller, Presbyterian

27 July 1923

Ronald Collingwood Satherley
Mabel Shaw

Ronald Collingwood Sathesby
Mabel Shaw
💍 1923/4520

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Shop Assistant

24
24

Wellington
Feilding

5 1/2 Years

Methodist Church, Feilding

6814

27 July 1923

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	27 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald Collingwood Satherley	Mabel Shaw
BDM Match (95%)	Ronald Collingwood Sathesby	Mabel Shaw
	💍 1923/4520
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Shop Assistant
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Feilding
Length of Residence		5 1/2 Years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Feilding
Folio	6814
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

24 July 1923

William Albert Sinclair
Annie Eliza Wooldridge

William Albert Sinclair
Annie Eliza Wooldridge
💍 1923/4521

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter factory employee
Domestic Duties

22
21

Feilding
Feilding

16 Years
2 Years

Registrar's Office, Post Office, Feilding

6815

24 July 1923

Mr. J. T. Williams, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	24 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Albert Sinclair	Annie Eliza Wooldridge
	💍 1923/4521
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter factory employee	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Feilding
Length of Residence	16 Years	2 Years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Post Office, Feilding
Folio	6815
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Mr. J. T. Williams, Registrar

26 July 1923

William John Osborne
Ivy Kathleen White

William John Osborne
Ivy Kathleen White
💍 1923/4522

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
26

Apiti
Feilding

4 Years

Anglican Church, Feilding

6816

26 July 1923

Rev. F. H. Petrie, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	26 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Osborne	Ivy Kathleen White
	💍 1923/4522
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Apiti	Feilding
Length of Residence		4 Years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Feilding
Folio	6816
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie, Anglican

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).