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 1718

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1923 Registrar E. Wood

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

13 July 1923

Clarence Hamilton Mitchell
Theodora Gupwell

Clarence Hamilton Mitchell
Theodora Gupwell
💍 1923/10423

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

10 years
Life

Methodist Church, Palmerston North

6889

William Isaac Gupwell, Father

13 July 1923

Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

No	96
Date of Notice	13 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Hamilton Mitchell	Theodora Gupwell
	💍 1923/10423
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	10 years	Life
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	6889
Consent	William Isaac Gupwell, Father
Date of Certificate	13 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

14 July 1923

John Scaife Armstrong
Gretchen Hume

John Scaife Armstrong
Gretchen Hume
💍 1923/4590

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner

32
33

Samoa
Palmerston North

2 years
4 months

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

6890

14 July 1923

Rev. J. Hobbs, Anglican

No	97
Date of Notice	14 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Scaife Armstrong	Gretchen Hume
	💍 1923/4590
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner
Age	32	33
Dwelling Place	Samoa	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	4 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	6890
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Hobbs, Anglican

16 July 1923

Arthur Eric Kearns
Julia Balfour

Arthur Eric Kearns
Julia Balfour
💍 1923/4591

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter

21
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 days
16 years

St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North

6891

16 July 1923

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	98
Date of Notice	16 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Eric Kearns	Julia Balfour
	💍 1923/4591
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 days	16 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Palmerston North
Folio	6891
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

17 July 1923

Gordon Blue Breen
Frances May Sinclair

Gordon Clive Breen
Frances May Sinclair
💍 1923/4592

Bachelor
Divorced (decree absolute 9 June 1923)

Chemist

30
32

Palmerston North
Napier

3 days
28 years

Congregational Church, Palmerston North

6892

17 July 1923

Rev. J. M. Stewart, Congregational

No	99
Date of Notice	17 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gordon Blue Breen	Frances May Sinclair
BDM Match (92%)	Gordon Clive Breen	Frances May Sinclair
	💍 1923/4592
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (decree absolute 9 June 1923)
Profession	Chemist
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	28 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Palmerston North
Folio	6892
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Stewart, Congregational

100

17 July 1923

Percy Albert Lewis
Rita Priscilla Gibson

Percy Albert Lewis
Rita Priscilla Gibson
💍 1923/4593

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

12 months
12 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

6893

17 July 1923

Rev. A. G. Blackburn, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	17 July 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Albert Lewis	Rita Priscilla Gibson
	💍 1923/4593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	12 months	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	6893
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. G. Blackburn, Anglican

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).