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 1621

District of Levin Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar A. Hawke

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

23 August 1923

Harold Joseph McLeadry
Mary Lilian Campbell

Harold Joseph McLeavey
Mary Lilian Campbell
💍 1923/4541

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

28
27

Levin
Levin

22 years
18 years

Catholic Church, Levin

6835

23 August 1923

Rev. M. J. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	23 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Joseph McLeadry	Mary Lilian Campbell
BDM Match (95%)	Harold Joseph McLeavey	Mary Lilian Campbell
	💍 1923/4541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Levin	Levin
Length of Residence	22 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Levin
Folio	6835
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. J. Fitzgibbon, Roman Catholic

27 August 1923

Arthur Edward Minton
Olive Isbell Dempster

Arthur Edward Minton
Olive Isbell Dempster
💍 1923/10417

Bachelor
Spinster

Cycle Agent
Domestic Duties

45
28

Otaki
Levin

12 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Levin

6836

27 August 1923

Rev. J. C. Davis, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	27 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Minton	Olive Isbell Dempster
	💍 1923/10417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cycle Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	45	28
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Levin
Length of Residence	12 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Levin
Folio	6836
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Davis, Anglican

28 August 1923

Walter Pretoria Doyle
Sylvia Heath

Walter Pretoria Doyle
Sylvia Death
💍 1923/4542

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Surfacement
Domestic Duties

23
23

Levin
Muhunoa East, Ohau

20 years
18 years

Anglican Church, Levin

6837

28 August 1923

Rev. J. C. Davis, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	28 August 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Pretoria Doyle	Sylvia Heath
BDM Match (96%)	Walter Pretoria Doyle	Sylvia Death
	💍 1923/4542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Surfacement	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Levin	Muhunoa East, Ohau
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Levin
Folio	6837
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 August 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Davis, Anglican

11 September 1923

Albert Arthur Jenkins
Myrtle Isoline Kemp

Albert Arthur Jenkins
Myrtle Isoline Kemp
💍 1923/4543

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
29

Otaki
Levin

1 day
3 weeks

Presbyterian Church, Levin

6838

11 September 1923

Rev. M. B. Harris, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	11 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Arthur Jenkins	Myrtle Isoline Kemp
	💍 1923/4543
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	29
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Levin
Length of Residence	1 day	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Levin
Folio	6838
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Harris, Presbyterian

18 September 1923

William Harper
Maud Kathleen McCashill

William Harper
Maud Kathleen McCaskill
💍 1923/10419

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
24

Weraroa
Levin

4 years
1 month

Presbyterian Manse, Levin

6839

18 September 1923

Rev. M. B. Harris, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	18 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Harper	Maud Kathleen McCashill
BDM Match (98%)	William Harper	Maud Kathleen McCaskill
	💍 1923/10419
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	24
Dwelling Place	Weraroa	Levin
Length of Residence	4 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Levin
Folio	6839
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Harris, 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).