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 1730

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1923

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

148

8 October 1923

William O'Hara
Elsie Coral Paltridge

William O'Hara
Elsie Coral Paltridge
💍 1923/7186

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and Paperhanger

25
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 1/2 years
21 years

St. Andrews Church

9375

8 October 1923

Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	8 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William O'Hara	Elsie Coral Paltridge
	💍 1923/7186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and Paperhanger
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	9375
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

149

8 October 1923

John Campbell
Annie Rachael Rowntree

John Campbell
Annie Rachael Rowntree
💍 1923/7197

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee

29
32

Bunnythorpe
Bunnythorpe

6 days
4 years

Registrar's Office

9376

8 October 1923

Registrar

No	149
Date of Notice	8 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Campbell	Annie Rachael Rowntree
	💍 1923/7197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	29	32
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Bunnythorpe
Length of Residence	6 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	9376
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Registrar

150

8 October 1923

Harold Charles Single
Ivy Myrtle Booksley

Harold Charles Single
Ivy Myrtle Cooksley
💍 1923/7204

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

29
31

Longburn
Longburn

3 days
3 weeks

Anglican Church

9377

8 October 1923

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	150
Date of Notice	8 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Charles Single	Ivy Myrtle Booksley
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Charles Single	Ivy Myrtle Cooksley
	💍 1923/7204
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Longburn	Longburn
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Anglican Church
Folio	9377
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

151

12 October 1923

Lawrence William Retter
Gertrude Alice Hallett

Lawrence William Retter
Gertrude Alice Hallett
💍 1923/7205

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

19
17

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
5 years

Residence of J. B. Retter, 94 Broad Street, Palmerston North

9378

Elizabeth Isabella Retter, mother, and Isabella Hallett, guardian

12 October 1923

Rev. J. F. Lachmann, Roman Catholic

No	151
Date of Notice	12 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence William Retter	Gertrude Alice Hallett
	💍 1923/7205
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. B. Retter, 94 Broad Street, Palmerston North
Folio	9378
Consent	Elizabeth Isabella Retter, mother, and Isabella Hallett, guardian
Date of Certificate	12 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Lachmann, Roman Catholic

152

13 October 1923

Francis Cecil Wright
Margaret Elizabeth Davis

Francis Cecil Wright
Margaret Elizabeth Davis
💍 1923/7206

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

28
29

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 years
6 years

St. Andrews Church

9379

13 October 1923

Rev. J. Ings, Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	13 October 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Cecil Wright	Margaret Elizabeth Davis
	💍 1923/7206
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	9379
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Ings, 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).