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 1376

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1923 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

108

16 December 1923

Douglas Ross
Margaret Jane Neal

Douglas Ross
Margaret Jane Neal
💍 1923/7106

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

29
27

Hastings
Maraekakaho

24 years
27 years

Maraekakaho Church

9229

17 December 1923

Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	16 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Douglas Ross	Margaret Jane Neal
	💍 1923/7106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Maraekakaho
Length of Residence	24 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Maraekakaho Church
Folio	9229
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

109

19 December 1923

Francis Walter Chapman
Hilda Jessie Gardiner

Francis Walter Chapman
Hilda Jessie Gardiner
💍 1923/7110

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

24
18

Hastings
Hastings

24 years
10 years

Registrar's Office

9233

John William Gardiner (father)

19 December 1923

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	109
Date of Notice	19 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Walter Chapman	Hilda Jessie Gardiner
	💍 1923/7110
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	9233
Consent	John William Gardiner (father)
Date of Certificate	19 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

110

21 December 1923

Arthur Gordon Taylor
Victoria May Rapley

Arthur Gordon Taylor
Victoria May Rapley
💍 1923/7673

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

27
22

Auckland
Havelock North

3 months
20 years

St. Columba Church

10058

21 December 1923

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	110
Date of Notice	21 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Gordon Taylor	Victoria May Rapley
	💍 1923/7673
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Havelock North
Length of Residence	3 months	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Columba Church
Folio	10058
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

111

24 December 1923

Leonard Llewellyn Grant
Ethel Alma Edwards

Leonard Llewellyn Grant
Ethel Alma Edwards
💍 1923/7111

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

32
31

Hastings
Hastings

15 months
2 years

Residence of Mr. R. Lawrence, Nelson Street, Hastings

9234

24 December 1923

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	111
Date of Notice	24 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Llewellyn Grant	Ethel Alma Edwards
	💍 1923/7111
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	32	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. R. Lawrence, Nelson Street, Hastings
Folio	9234
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

112

24 December 1923

Alfred Leslie Pearson
Kathleen Irene Ballard

Alfred Leslie Pearson
Kathleen Irene Ballard
💍 1923/7112

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
21

Dannevirke
Hastings

25 years
3 years

Baptist Church

9235

24 December 1923

Rev. K. Ewen, Baptist

No	112
Date of Notice	24 December 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Leslie Pearson	Kathleen Irene Ballard
	💍 1923/7112
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church
Folio	9235
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. K. Ewen, Baptist

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).