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 1355

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1924 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

3 January 1924

James Brown Simpson
Pattie Fenton

James Brown Simpson
Pattie Fenton
💍 1924/666

Alfred Edwin Bertram Richardson
Mattie Fenton
💍 1924/4730

Bachelor
Widow

Cook
Domestic

40
34

Havelock North
Havelock North

3 months
3 months

Registrar's Office Hastings

1732

3 January 1924

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Brown Simpson	Pattie Fenton
	💍 1924/666
BDM Match (61%)	Alfred Edwin Bertram Richardson	Mattie Fenton
	💍 1924/4730
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	40	34
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	3 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Hastings
Folio	1732
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

3 January 1924

James Adams Seton Wenley
Beryl Mary Barker

James Adams Seton Wenley
Beryl Mary Barker
💍 1924/667

Divorced
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

32
27

Waimarama
Waimarama

4 years
8 years

Residence of John Barker Waimarama

1733

3 January 1924

Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Adams Seton Wenley	Beryl Mary Barker
	💍 1924/667
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	27
Dwelling Place	Waimarama	Waimarama
Length of Residence	4 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Barker Waimarama
Folio	1733
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

3 January 1924

Kenneth Cecil White
Kathleen Harriette Douglas

Kenneth Cecil White
Kathleen Harriette Douglas
💍 1924/668

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
44

Pukehou
Te Mahanga Hastings

6 months
14 years

St Matthews Church Hastings

1734

3 January 1924

Rev. P. T. Hall, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Cecil White	Kathleen Harriette Douglas
	💍 1924/668
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	44
Dwelling Place	Pukehou	Te Mahanga Hastings
Length of Residence	6 months	14 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	1734
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. T. Hall, Anglican

3 January 1924

James Skelly
Mary Ellen Giles

James Kilkelly
Mary Ellen Giles
💍 1924/646

Bachelor
Widow

Shift Engineer
Domestic Duties

41
32

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
3 1/2 years

Roman Catholic Church Hastings

1735

3 January 1924

Rev. Father Maloney, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	3 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Skelly	Mary Ellen Giles
BDM Match (89%)	James Kilkelly	Mary Ellen Giles
	💍 1924/646
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Shift Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Hastings
Folio	1735
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Maloney, Roman Catholic

5 January 1924

Stanley Ernest Mexted
Myrtle Helen Purcell

Stanley Ernest Mexted
Myrtle Helen Purcell
💍 1924/647

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Office Clerk

29
23

Hastings
Hastings

3 years
2 years

Methodist Parsonage Queen Street Hastings

1736

5 January 1924

Rev. Angus M. Bean, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	5 January 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Ernest Mexted	Myrtle Helen Purcell
	💍 1924/647
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Office Clerk
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage Queen Street Hastings
Folio	1736
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. Angus 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).