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 1724

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1924 Registrar E. G. 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

29 April 1924

William Hubert MacMillan
Gladys Annie Smith

William Hubert Macmillan
Gladys Annie Smith
💍 1924/3431

Bachelor
Spinster

Leather manufacturer

31
31

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
12 years

All Saints Church

4692

29 April 1924

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	61
Date of Notice	29 April 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Hubert MacMillan	Gladys Annie Smith
BDM Match (98%)	William Hubert Macmillan	Gladys Annie Smith
	💍 1924/3431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Leather manufacturer
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	12 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	4692
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 April 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

2 May 1924

Frank John Hockly
Bertha Naomi Grover

Frank John Hockly
Bertha Naomi Grover
💍 1924/3432

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

25
22

Ashhurst
Palmerston North

22 years
11 years

Empire Hall

4693

2 May 1924

Rev. A. A. Murray, United Evangelical

No	62
Date of Notice	2 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank John Hockly	Bertha Naomi Grover
	💍 1924/3432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Ashhurst	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Empire Hall
Folio	4693
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, United Evangelical

3 May 1924

Francis Leo Callahan
Alice May Bolstad

Francis Leo Callahan
Alice May Bolstad
💍 1924/3433

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway clerk

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 year
5 years

St. Andrew's Church

4694

Elizabeth Mary Ann Anderson formerly Bolstad, mother

3 May 1924

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	3 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Leo Callahan	Alice May Bolstad
	💍 1924/3433
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway clerk
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 year	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church
Folio	4694
Consent	Elizabeth Mary Ann Anderson formerly Bolstad, mother
Date of Certificate	3 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

5 May 1924

Thomas Holloway
Elsie Mary Munford

Thomas Holloway
Elsie Mary Mudford
💍 1924/3435

Widower (2 January 1924)
Widow (2 November 1918)

Labourer

39
36

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

27 years
2 months

St. Patrick's Church

4695

5 May 1924

Rev. J. T. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	64
Date of Notice	5 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Holloway	Elsie Mary Munford
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Holloway	Elsie Mary Mudford
	💍 1924/3435
Condition	Widower (2 January 1924)	Widow (2 November 1918)
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	36
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	27 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church
Folio	4695
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. MacManus, Roman Catholic

5 May 1924

Francis George Thorne
Olive Milner Gillett

Francis George Thorne
Olive Milner Gillett
💍 1924/3436

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

25
20

Bunnythorpe
Palmerston North

2 months
3 days

All Saints Church

4696

Charles Frederick Gillett, father

5 May 1924

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	65
Date of Notice	5 May 1924
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Thorne	Olive Milner Gillett
	💍 1924/3436
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	4696
Consent	Charles Frederick Gillett, father
Date of Certificate	5 May 1924
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).