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 1731

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar F. A. 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

153

15 October 1923

Hugh Charles Patchell
Eva Elsie Sigglekow

Hugh Charles Patchell
Eva Elsie Sigglekow
💍 1923/7207

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Palmerston North
Bunnythorpe

2 days
7 years

St. Andrews Church

9380

15 October 1923

Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

No	153
Date of Notice	15 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh Charles Patchell	Eva Elsie Sigglekow
	💍 1923/7207
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	2 days	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	9380
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

154

18 October 1923

William Stitt
Hilda Bannister

William Stitt
Hilda Bannister
💍 1923/7208

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Fitter

31
24

Palmerston North
On voyage to New Zealand

7 months
-

St. Paul's Methodist Church

9381

18 October 1923

Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

No	154
Date of Notice	18 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stitt	Hilda Bannister
	💍 1923/7208
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Fitter
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	On voyage to New Zealand
Length of Residence	7 months	-
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Methodist Church
Folio	9381
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

155

23 October 1923

Robert Carlyle Britton
Isabella Montgomery

Robert Carlyle Britton
Isabella Montgomery
💍 1923/7209

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter Railways

24
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 year
6 months

Cuba Street Methodist Church

9382

23 October 1923

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	155
Date of Notice	23 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Carlyle Britton	Isabella Montgomery
	💍 1923/7209
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter Railways
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 year	6 months
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church
Folio	9382
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

156

24 October 1923

Frederick Lowther
Doris Alice Holt-Harris

Frederick Lowther
Doris Alice Holt-Harris
💍 1923/7210

Divorced decree absolute September 1923
Divorced decree absolute September 1921

General cleaner

35
39

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
5 years

Registrar's office

9383

24 October 1923

Registrar

No	156
Date of Notice	24 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Lowther	Doris Alice Holt-Harris
	💍 1923/7210
Condition	Divorced decree absolute September 1923	Divorced decree absolute September 1921
Profession	General cleaner
Age	35	39
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office
Folio	9383
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

157

25 October 1923

John Finnie
Agnes Stephen McWilliams

John Finnie
Agnes Stephen McWilliams
💍 1923/7187

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

38
27

Palmerston North
Terrace End, Palmerston North

3 years
2 weeks

St. Peter's Church

9384

25 October 1923

Rev. J. Hobbs, Anglican

No	157
Date of Notice	25 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Finnie	Agnes Stephen McWilliams
	💍 1923/7187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	38	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Terrace End, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Church
Folio	9384
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, 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).