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 1642

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar H. G. Smith

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

24 January 1923

Herbert Mortimer Robertson
Florence Myrtle Pike

Herbert Mortimer Robertson
Florence Myrtle Pike
💍 1923/2376

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

27
18

Masterton
Carterton

Registrar's Office, Masterton

1976

William Henry Pike (Father)

24 January 1923

H. G. Smith, Registrar of Marriages

No	6
Date of Notice	24 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Mortimer Robertson	Florence Myrtle Pike
	💍 1923/2376
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	27	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Carterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	1976
Consent	William Henry Pike (Father)
Date of Certificate	24 January 1923
Officiating Minister	H. G. Smith, Registrar of Marriages

26 January 1923

Arthur Reginald Mills
Olive Violet Elizabeth Vollheim

Arthur Reginald Mills
Olive Violet Elizabeth Vollheim
💍 1923/2383

Bachelor
Spinster

Jeweller
Waitress

24
25

Masterton
Masterton

Methodist Church, Masterton

1977

26 January 1923

Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	26 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Reginald Mills	Olive Violet Elizabeth Vollheim
	💍 1923/2383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jeweller	Waitress
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Masterton
Folio	1977
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. F. Rothwell, Methodist

24 January 1923

Eric Arnold Hall
Winifred Margaret Jones

Eric Arnold Hall
Winifred Margaret Jones
💍 1923/2384

Bachelor
Spinster

Apiarist
Typiste

27
33

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthews Church, Masterton

1978

24 January 1923

Rev. W. Bullock, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	24 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Arnold Hall	Winifred Margaret Jones
	💍 1923/2384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Apiarist	Typiste
Age	27	33
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Masterton
Folio	1978
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Bullock, Church of England

30 January 1923

John Joseph Thompson
Isabella Simpson McIntyre

John Joseph Thompson
Isabella Simpson McIntyre
💍 1923/2385

Bachelor
Spinster

Despatch Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
26

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthews Church, Masterton

1979

30 January 1923

Rev. W. Bullock, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	30 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Thompson	Isabella Simpson McIntyre
	💍 1923/2385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Despatch Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Masterton
Folio	1979
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Bullock, Church of England

31 January 1923

Clive Vernon Pederson
Margaret Violet Reid

Clive Vernon Pederson
Margaret Violet Reid
💍 1923/2386

Bachelor
Spinster

Draper's Assistant
Domestic Duties

24
24

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

1980

31 January 1923

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	31 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clive Vernon Pederson	Margaret Violet Reid
	💍 1923/2386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Draper's Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	1980
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, 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).