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 1707

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1923 Registrar J. H. Cook

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

3 April 1923

Thomas Martin Kerins
Esther Mary McArley

Thomas Martin Kerins
Esther Mary McArley
💍 1923/9286

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 day
3 days

St. Patricks Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North

4572

3 April 1923

Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	46
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Martin Kerins	Esther Mary McArley
	💍 1923/9286
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Roman Catholic Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4572
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

3 April 1923

Herbert Ernest Collier
Grace Florence Kittelty

Herbert Ernest Collier
Grace Florence Kittelty
💍 1923/9287

Bachelor
Widow

Machinist
Domestic Duties

31
32

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 days
4 days

Registrars Office, Palmerston North

4573

3 April 1923

Deputy Registrar

No	47
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Ernest Collier	Grace Florence Kittelty
	💍 1923/9287
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Machinist	Domestic Duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Palmerston North
Folio	4573
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

3 April 1923

William Simpson
Clarice Amelia Rowse

William Simpson
Clarice Amelia Rowse
💍 1923/9288

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

27
30

Palmerston North
Mako Mako

2 years
14 years

Methodist Church, Mako Mako

4574

3 April 1923

Rev. A. Harding, Methodist

No	48
Date of Notice	3 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Simpson	Clarice Amelia Rowse
	💍 1923/9288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	27	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Mako Mako
Length of Residence	2 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Mako Mako
Folio	4574
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Harding, Methodist

4 April 1923

Albert Garnet Anderson
Ellen Catherine Boyle

Albert Garnet Anderson
Ellen Catherine Doyle
💍 1923/9122

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Domestic Duties

30
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North

4575

4 April 1923

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Garnet Anderson	Ellen Catherine Boyle
BDM Match (98%)	Albert Garnet Anderson	Ellen Catherine Doyle
	💍 1923/9122
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	30	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4575
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

4 April 1923

David Hill
Sonia Marian Hill

David Hill
Sonia Mirian Hill
💍 1923/9133

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Tailoress

38
28

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
1 week

All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North

4576

4 April 1923

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	50
Date of Notice	4 April 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hill	Sonia Marian Hill
BDM Match (97%)	David Hill	Sonia Mirian Hill
	💍 1923/9133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Tailoress
Age	38	28
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	All Saints Church of England, Palmerston North
Folio	4576
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, 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).