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 1380

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1923 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

16 January 1923

Cecil Louisson
Lydia Blanche Allen

Cecil Louisson
Lydia Blanche Allen
💍 1923/2289

Divorced Decree Absolute 7 July 1922
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic Duties

42
29

Napier
Napier

3 days
2 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

1858

16 January 1923

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	16 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil Louisson	Lydia Blanche Allen
	💍 1923/2289
Condition	Divorced Decree Absolute 7 July 1922	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic Duties
Age	42	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	2 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1858
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

18 January 1923

William Nelson Russell
Marjorie Romanes Wensley

William Nelson Russell
Marjorie Romanes Wenley
💍 1923/2290

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Hastings, Mokan
Napier

14 days, 5 months
4 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1859

18 January 1923

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	18 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Nelson Russell	Marjorie Romanes Wensley
BDM Match (98%)	William Nelson Russell	Marjorie Romanes Wenley
	💍 1923/2290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings, Mokan	Napier
Length of Residence	14 days, 5 months	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1859
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1923
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

23 January 1923

William Wallace Pauling
Ethel Gladys Prater

William Wallace Pauling
Ethel Gladys Prater
💍 1923/2267

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Lady Help

27
27

Napier, Nelson
Napier

3 days, 11 years
3 months

Congregational Church, Napier

1860

23 January 1923

A. Hodge, Congregational

No	8
Date of Notice	23 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wallace Pauling	Ethel Gladys Prater
	💍 1923/2267
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Lady Help
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Napier, Nelson	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days, 11 years	3 months
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Napier
Folio	1860
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1923
Officiating Minister	A. Hodge, Congregational

23 January 1923

Walter George Bensen
Sarah Jane Scope

Walter George Bensen
Sarah Jane Scope
💍 1923/2268

Bachelor
Widow 6 Sept 1921

Labourer
Housekeeper

42
42

Napier, Auckland
Napier, Greymouth

1 week, 4 years
1 week, 40 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

1861

23 January 1923

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	23 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter George Bensen	Sarah Jane Scope
	💍 1923/2268
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 6 Sept 1921
Profession	Labourer	Housekeeper
Age	42	42
Dwelling Place	Napier, Auckland	Napier, Greymouth
Length of Residence	1 week, 4 years	1 week, 40 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1861
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 January 1923
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

23 January 1923

William Paul Utiera
Mori Frances Perry

William Paul Utiera
Mori Frances Perry
💍 1923/8529

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

21
17

Taradale
Taradale

7 years
17 years

Maori Mission Church, Omahu

3887

Maud Airini La Morte, Mother

23 January 1923

F. A. Bennett, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	23 January 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Paul Utiera	Mori Frances Perry
	💍 1923/8529
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	7 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Maori Mission Church, Omahu
Folio	3887
Consent	Maud Airini La Morte, Mother
Date of Certificate	23 January 1923
Officiating Minister	F. A. Bennett, Church of England

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).