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 1361

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar R. 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

25 February 1924

Francis Augustus Crawford
Isabella Esplin Annand

Francis Augustus Crawford
Isabella Esplin Annand
💍 1924/9907

Widower
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic

37
30

Napier
Hastings

16 years
3 years

House of James Annand, Riverslea Road, Hastings

1762

25 February 1924

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	25 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Augustus Crawford	Isabella Esplin Annand
	💍 1924/9907
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	16 years	3 years
Marriage Place	House of James Annand, Riverslea Road, Hastings
Folio	1762
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

25 February 1924

Thomas Joyce Foster
Florence Vivienne Rich

Thomas Joyce Foster
Florence Vivienne Rich
💍 1924/9908

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Schoolteacher

37
33

Gisborne
Havelock North

4 years
25 years

St Lukes Church, Havelock North

1763

25 February 1924

Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

No	32
Date of Notice	25 February 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joyce Foster	Florence Vivienne Rich
	💍 1924/9908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Schoolteacher
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 years	25 years
Marriage Place	St Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	1763
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. J. Rich, Anglican

1 March 1924

Harold Sidley Aybey
Winifred Elsie Aitchison

Harold Sidley Axbey
Winifred Elsie Aitchison
💍 1924/9909

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28
23

Tunanui, H. Bay
Sherenden, H. Bay

4 years
4 years

St Andrews Church, Hastings

1764

1 March 1924

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	1 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Sidley Aybey	Winifred Elsie Aitchison
BDM Match (97%)	Harold Sidley Axbey	Winifred Elsie Aitchison
	💍 1924/9909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Tunanui, H. Bay	Sherenden, H. Bay
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	1764
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

4 March 1924

Eric Alexander Ramsay
Myrenne Jessie Stewart

Eric Alexander Ramsay
Myrienne Jessie Stewart
💍 1924/10315

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic

26
20

Auckland
Hastings

1 year
5 years

St Matthews Church, Hastings

2490

Minnie Ernestina Maher, mother

4 March 1924

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	34
Date of Notice	4 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Alexander Ramsay	Myrenne Jessie Stewart
BDM Match (98%)	Eric Alexander Ramsay	Myrienne Jessie Stewart
	💍 1924/10315
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	2490
Consent	Minnie Ernestina Maher, mother
Date of Certificate	4 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

8 March 1924

Herbert Jervis O'Loughlen
Bessie Drusilla Wakely

Herbert Jervis O'Loughlen
Bessie Drusilla Wakely
💍 1924/9910

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Manager
School Teacher

36
27

Te Kuiti
Hastings

2 months
3 days

St Matthews Church, Hastings

1765

8 March 1924

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	8 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Jervis O'Loughlen	Bessie Drusilla Wakely
	💍 1924/9910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Manager	School Teacher
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Te Kuiti	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	St Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	1765
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

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).