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 1719

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar C. J. 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

101

18 July 1923

Sydney Francis Upton
Lucy Georgina Shaw

Sydney Francis Upton
Lucy Georgina Shaw
💍 1923/4594

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

18
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 month
2 weeks

St. Patrick's Church

6894

Oswald Upton, father

18 July 1923

Rev. M. B. Boolaghty, Roman Catholic

No	101
Date of Notice	18 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Francis Upton	Lucy Georgina Shaw
	💍 1923/4594
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	18	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 month	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	6894
Consent	Oswald Upton, father
Date of Certificate	18 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. B. Boolaghty, Roman Catholic

102

24 July 1923

Lawrence Walter Holland
Gladys Mills

Lawrence Walter Holland
Gladys Mills
💍 1923/10424

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer

52
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

14 years
6 years

All Saints Church

6895

24 July 1923

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	102
Date of Notice	24 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Walter Holland	Gladys Mills
	💍 1923/10424
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer
Age	52	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	14 years	6 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	6895
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

103

25 July 1923

Thomas Henry Foster
Phyllis Mary Webster

Thomas Henry Foster
Phyllis Mary Webster
💍 1923/4595

Bachelor
Spinster

Boot-maker

26
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
1 year

Registrar's Office

6896

Emily Jane, formerly Webster, mother

25 July 1923

Deputy Registrar

No	103
Date of Notice	25 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Foster	Phyllis Mary Webster
	💍 1923/4595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Boot-maker
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	6896
Consent	Emily Jane, formerly Webster, mother
Date of Certificate	25 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

104

27 July 1923

Walter Kent J. Inder
Daisy Bertha Fitzgerald

Walter Kent Inder
Daisy Bertha Fitzgerald
💍 1923/4604

Divorced (Decree absolute 18 February 1922)
Spinster

Electrical Linesman

36
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 months
15 years

St. Andrew's Church

6897

27 July 1923

Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

No	104
Date of Notice	27 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Kent J. Inder	Daisy Bertha Fitzgerald
BDM Match (93%)	Walter Kent Inder	Daisy Bertha Fitzgerald
	💍 1923/4604
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 18 February 1922)	Spinster
Profession	Electrical Linesman
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	6897
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hardie, Presbyterian

105

28 July 1923

James Sherriff Sheriff
Elsie May Mardon

James Sheriff
Elsie May Mardon
💍 1923/4605

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

33
31

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 day
20 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church

6898

28 July 1923

Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

No	105
Date of Notice	28 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Sherriff Sheriff	Elsie May Mardon
BDM Match (80%)	James Sheriff	Elsie May Mardon
	💍 1923/4605
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 day	20 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church
Folio	6898
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Peat, 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).