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 1717

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1924 Registrar E. Cook

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

19 March 1924

George Henry Mathias Jepsen
Irene Constance Baylis

George Henry Mathias Jepsen
Irene Constance Baylis
💍 1924/9105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Hand

22
21

Bunnythorpe
Palmerston North

Life
8 years

All Saints Church

1936

19 March 1924

Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

No	31
Date of Notice	19 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Mathias Jepsen	Irene Constance Baylis
	💍 1924/9105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Hand
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	Life	8 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	1936
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. G. Blackburne, Anglican

21 March 1924

Albert Frederick William Jackson
Rhoda Josephine Maunder

Alfred Frederick William Jackson
Rhoda Josephine Maunder
💍 1924/695

Divorced (decree absolute December 1923)
Spinster

Builder and contractor

47
35

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

25 years
8 years

St. David's Church, Terrace End, Palmerston North

1937

21 March 1924

Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	32
Date of Notice	21 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Frederick William Jackson	Rhoda Josephine Maunder
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred Frederick William Jackson	Rhoda Josephine Maunder
	💍 1924/695
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute December 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Builder and contractor
Age	47	35
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. David's Church, Terrace End, Palmerston North
Folio	1937
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

21 March 1924

Harold Melrose Cole
Minnie Gilmore

Harold Melrose Cole
Minnie Gilmore
💍 1924/706

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber

24
24

New Plymouth
Palmerston North

7 months
2 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

1938

21 March 1924

Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

No	33
Date of Notice	21 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Melrose Cole	Minnie Gilmore
	💍 1924/706
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	1938
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

24 March 1924

John Archibald Chapman
Maud Muriel Thompson

John Archibald Chapman
Maud Muriel Thompson
💍 1924/10323

Bachelor
Spinster

Newspaper Representative

26
26

Palmerston North
Hastings

2 months
Life

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hastings

2497

24 March 1924

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	34
Date of Notice	24 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Archibald Chapman	Maud Muriel Thompson
	💍 1924/10323
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Newspaper Representative
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	2497
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

28 March 1924

John Smith
Ethel Button Rowntree

John Smith
Ethel Button Rowntree
💍 1924/713

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
37

Palmerston North
Wellington

30 years
6 months

Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington

1939

28 March 1924

Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

No	35
Date of Notice	28 March 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith	Ethel Button Rowntree
	💍 1924/713
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	37
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Wellington
Length of Residence	30 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Kent Terrace Presbyterian Church, Wellington
Folio	1939
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 March 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Elliott, Presbyterian

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).