Intentions to Marry, 1924 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840523, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1924 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.

1924d contains pages 1335-1758, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1339

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar W. Webley

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

3 March 1924

Michael Joseph Lyons
Basilla Euphrasia Ryan

Michael Joseph Lyons
Basilla Euphrasia Ryan
💍 1924/656

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

44
27

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke

1727

3 March 1924

Rev. Father L. J. Daly, Roman Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	3 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Joseph Lyons	Basilla Euphrasia Ryan
	💍 1924/656
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	44	27
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1727
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father L. J. Daly, Roman Catholic

3 March 1924

Samuel James McNeill
Thelma Annie Jewiss

Samuel James McNeill
Thelma Annie Jewiss
💍 1924/662

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic Duties

31
20

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

10 months
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

1728

Percy Hinkley, Jewiss Father

3 March 1924

Rev. T. J. F. Mackey

No	13
Date of Notice	3 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel James McNeill	Thelma Annie Jewiss
	💍 1924/662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	10 months	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1728
Consent	Percy Hinkley, Jewiss Father
Date of Certificate	3 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. J. F. Mackey

7 March 1924

Ivan Cyril Clement
Mary Rubina Taylor

Frank Cyril Clement
Mary Rubina Taylor
💍 1924/663

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Assistant
Domestic Duties

25
20

Te Rehunga
Dannevirke

4 years
6 years

Bride's Residence, No 9 Dublin Street, Dannevirke

1729

Robert Taylor, Father

7 March 1924

Ensign Hawkes, Salvation Army

No	14
Date of Notice	7 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Cyril Clement	Mary Rubina Taylor
BDM Match (92%)	Frank Cyril Clement	Mary Rubina Taylor
	💍 1924/663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Assistant	Domestic Duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Te Rehunga	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Bride's Residence, No 9 Dublin Street, Dannevirke
Folio	1729
Consent	Robert Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	7 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Ensign Hawkes, Salvation Army

20 March 1924

John Ferdinand Robinson
Grace Frances Victoria Johnson

John Ferdinand Robinson
Grace Frances Victoria Johnson
💍 1924/664

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Assistant
Stenographer Assistant

22
22

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 years
2 years

Anglican Church, Dannevirke

1730

20 March 1924

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

No	15
Date of Notice	20 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ferdinand Robinson	Grace Frances Victoria Johnson
	💍 1924/664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Assistant	Stenographer Assistant
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1730
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

27 March 1924

Sydney Paul Watson
Alma Hunt

Sydney Paul Watson
Alma Hunt
💍 1924/665

Divorced (Decree absolute 16:11:23)
Spinster

Roadsplitter
Domestic Duties

38
26

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

8 years
8 years

Registrar's Office, Dannevirke

1731

W. Webley, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	27 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Paul Watson	Alma Hunt
	💍 1924/665
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 16:11:23)	Spinster
Profession	Roadsplitter	Domestic Duties
Age	38	26
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	8 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dannevirke
Folio	1731
Consent
Date of Certificate
Officiating Minister	W. Webley, Registrar

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).