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 1401

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

2 June 1924

Edwin Blefford Inkster
Kathleen Muriel Neill

Edwin Clifford Inkster
Kathleen Muriel Neill
💍 1924/2235

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

28
28

Napier
Christchurch

2 days
3 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

4526

2 June 1924

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	65
Date of Notice	2 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Blefford Inkster	Kathleen Muriel Neill
BDM Match (95%)	Edwin Clifford Inkster	Kathleen Muriel Neill
	💍 1924/2235
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Christchurch
Length of Residence	2 days	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	4526
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 June 1924
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

5 June 1924

James Edward Francis Brayshaw
Marion Lucy Balder Bedford

James Edward Francis Brayshaw
Marion Lucy Calder Bedford
💍 1924/2243

Widower
Spinster

Land Salesman
Domestic Duties

35
32

Napier
Auckland

2 days
2 months

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

4527

5 June 1924

Canon Rice, Church of England

No	66
Date of Notice	5 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Francis Brayshaw	Marion Lucy Balder Bedford
BDM Match (98%)	James Edward Francis Brayshaw	Marion Lucy Calder Bedford
	💍 1924/2243
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	35	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Auckland
Length of Residence	2 days	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	4527
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Canon Rice, Church of England

5 June 1924

Herman Ronald von Dadelszen
Eileen Dyer

Herman Ronald von Dadelszen
Eileen Dyer
💍 1924/2254

Widower
Spinster

Accountant
Domestic Duties

43
36

Havelock North
Napier

10 years
5 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

4528

5 June 1924

Dean Mayne, Church of England

No	67
Date of Notice	5 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herman Ronald von Dadelszen	Eileen Dyer
	💍 1924/2254
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	43	36
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Napier
Length of Residence	10 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	4528
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 June 1924
Officiating Minister	Dean Mayne, Church of England

7 June 1924

George William Seymour
Dorothy Kean

George William Seymour
Dorothy Rean
💍 1924/2293

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic

34
23

Port Ahuriri
Napier

34 years
23 years

St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri

5401

7 June 1924

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	68
Date of Notice	7 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George William Seymour	Dorothy Kean
BDM Match (96%)	George William Seymour	Dorothy Rean
	💍 1924/2293
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic
Age	34	23
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	34 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	5401
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 June 1924
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Church of England

10 June 1924

William Wilson
Annie McGarva

William Wilson
Annie McGarva
💍 1924/2261

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

35
26

Whakatu
Whakatu

5 days
3 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

4529

10 June 1924

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	69
Date of Notice	10 June 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Wilson	Annie McGarva
	💍 1924/2261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Whakatu	Whakatu
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	4529
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 June 1924
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, 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).