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 1356

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 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

9 March 1923

Robert Bruce McGregor Lucas
Maud Eileen St. Hill

Robert Bruce McGregor Lucas
Maud Eileen St Hill
💍 1923/2253

Bachelor
Widow (11th August 1916)

Broker
Domestic Duties

36
30

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

30 years

St. Luke's Church, Havelock North

1845

9 March 1923

Rev T. Fisher, Anglican

No	16
Date of Notice	9 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Bruce McGregor Lucas	Maud Eileen St. Hill
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Bruce McGregor Lucas	Maud Eileen St Hill
	💍 1923/2253
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (11th August 1916)
Profession	Broker	Domestic Duties
Age	36	30
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence		30 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church, Havelock North
Folio	1845
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev T. Fisher, Anglican

12 March 1923

Arthur Stanley Tonkin
Muriel Atmore Moore

Arthur Stanley Tonkin
Muriel Atmore Moore
💍 1923/2915

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
School Teacher

27
24

Hastings
Nelson

15 years
20 years

Home of Agnes Moore, 56 Bolton Street, Nelson

2637

12 March 1923

Rev John Laird, Baptist

No	17
Date of Notice	12 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Stanley Tonkin	Muriel Atmore Moore
	💍 1923/2915
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	School Teacher
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Nelson
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Home of Agnes Moore, 56 Bolton Street, Nelson
Folio	2637
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev John Laird, Baptist

15 March 1923

William Henry Harris
Emma Stibbard

William Henry Harris
Emma Stibbard
💍 1923/2254

Divorced (Decree Absolute 24th February 1923)
Divorced (Decree Absolute 10th March 1922)

Carrier
Domestic Duties

41
41

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
7 years

Residence of Rev A. McBean, Hastings

1846

15 March 1923

Rev A. McBean, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	15 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Harris	Emma Stibbard
	💍 1923/2254
Condition	Divorced (Decree Absolute 24th February 1923)	Divorced (Decree Absolute 10th March 1922)
Profession	Carrier	Domestic Duties
Age	41	41
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev A. McBean, Hastings
Folio	1846
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A. McBean, Methodist

19 March 1923

Alexander Harold Stephens
Jannie Myrtle McQuilkin

Alexander Harold Stephens
Jannie Myrtle McQuilkin
💍 1923/2255

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Packer
Domestic Duties

22
20

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
7 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

1847

Peter McQuilkin, father, Pukehou

19 March 1923

Rev A. McBean, Methodist

No	19
Date of Notice	19 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Harold Stephens	Jannie Myrtle McQuilkin
	💍 1923/2255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Packer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1847
Consent	Peter McQuilkin, father, Pukehou
Date of Certificate	19 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev A. McBean, Methodist

25 March 1923

Patu Jaka Wairama
Kuini Paku Ngarara

Patu Taka Wairama
Kuini Paku Ngarara
💍 1923/2256

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Le Hauke
Le Hauke

23 years
2 years

Mission House, Le Hauke

1848

Huiarau Ngarara, mother, Le Hauke

20 March 1923

Rev Lanow Arthur Williams

No	20
Date of Notice	25 March 1923
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patu Jaka Wairama	Kuini Paku Ngarara
BDM Match (97%)	Patu Taka Wairama	Kuini Paku Ngarara
	💍 1923/2256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Le Hauke	Le Hauke
Length of Residence	23 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Mission House, Le Hauke
Folio	1848
Consent	Huiarau Ngarara, mother, Le Hauke
Date of Certificate	20 March 1923
Officiating Minister	Rev Lanow Arthur Williams

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).