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 1368

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 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

14 September 1923

James Hellyer
Marjorie Helena Rosenberg

James Hellyer
Marjorie Helena Rosenberg
💍 1923/4465

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

26
24

Clive
Hastings

24 years
11 years

St Matthews Church, Hastings

6729

14 September 1923

Rev. P. J. Hall, Anglican

No	68
Date of Notice	14 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Hellyer	Marjorie Helena Rosenberg
	💍 1923/4465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Clive	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	6729
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Hall, Anglican

19 September 1923

George Wright
Sarah Leitch

George Wright
Sarah Leitch
💍 1923/4466

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant Boilermaker
Domestic duties

30
24

Hastings
Hastings

9 months
2 days

Residence of Rev. A. M. Bean, Queen St, Hastings

6730

19 September 1923

Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

No	69
Date of Notice	19 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Wright	Sarah Leitch
	💍 1923/4466
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant Boilermaker	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	9 months	2 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. M. Bean, Queen St, Hastings
Folio	6730
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

24 September 1923

Cecil John Sterling
Claribel Cecilia Butler

Cecil John Sterling
Claribel Cecilia Butler
💍 1923/4467

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic duties

30
24

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
5 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

6731

24 September 1923

Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

No	70
Date of Notice	24 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cecil John Sterling	Claribel Cecilia Butler
	💍 1923/4467
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	5 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	6731
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

27 September 1923

William James Steer
Mabel Mitchell

William James Steere
Mabel Mitchell
💍 1923/4468

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic duties

28
24

Waipukurau
Havelock North

28 years
2 weeks

St Matthews Church, Hastings

6732

27 September 1923

Rev. P. J. Hall, Anglican

No	71
Date of Notice	27 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Steer	Mabel Mitchell
BDM Match (98%)	William James Steere	Mabel Mitchell
	💍 1923/4468
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Havelock North
Length of Residence	28 years	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	6732
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. J. Hall, Anglican

29 September 1923

Albert Henry Liley
Annie Quick Duncan

Albert Henry Liley
Annie Quick Duncan
💍 1923/4469

Bachelor
Divorced (Decree absolute 1st Sep 1923)

Carpenter
Domestic duties

43
36

Havelock North
Hastings

43 years
4 years

Residence of Rev. A. M. Bean, Queen Street, Hastings

6733

29 September 1923

Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

No	72
Date of Notice	29 September 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Liley	Annie Quick Duncan
	💍 1923/4469
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Decree absolute 1st Sep 1923)
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Hastings
Length of Residence	43 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. A. M. Bean, Queen Street, Hastings
Folio	6733
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 September 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. M. Bean, Methodist

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).