Intentions to Marry, 1925 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840531, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 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.

1925d contains pages 1357-1784, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1357

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. W. Ealry

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

8 January 1925

George Edward Anthony
Margaret Harriet MacDonald

George Edward Anthony
Margaret Harris MacDonald
💍 1925/9910

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Lorry Driver
Domestic Duties

25
21

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 years
6 months

Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke

1817

8 January 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Edward Anthony	Margaret Harriet MacDonald
BDM Match (96%)	George Edward Anthony	Margaret Harris MacDonald
	💍 1925/9910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Lorry Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Dannevirke
Folio	1817
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

19 January 1925

John William Cowley
Isabel Kate Simson

John William Cowley
Isabel Kate Simson
💍 1925/9911

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter
Tailoress

33
33

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

20 years
6 years

St. John's Church, Dannevirke

1818

19 January 1925

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

No	2
Date of Notice	19 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John William Cowley	Isabel Kate Simson
	💍 1925/9911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter	Tailoress
Age	33	33
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	20 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1818
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

26 January 1925

Charles John McFarland
Phyllis Isabel Chick

Charles John McParland
Phyllis Isabel Chick
💍 1925/9912

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
20

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

5 years
20 years

Residence of Bride's father, 35 Gordon Street, Dannevirke

1819

William Chick, Father

26 January 1925

Rev. Father J. Guinane, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles John McFarland	Phyllis Isabel Chick
BDM Match (98%)	Charles John McParland	Phyllis Isabel Chick
	💍 1925/9912
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	5 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride's father, 35 Gordon Street, Dannevirke
Folio	1819
Consent	William Chick, Father
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Guinane, Roman Catholic

31 January 1925

Allan William Henry Webster
Margaret Esther McLeod

Allan William Henry Webster
Margaret Esther McLeod
💍 1925/9914

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Body Builder
Domestic Duties

24
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

7 days
12 years

Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke

1820

30 January 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	31 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan William Henry Webster	Margaret Esther McLeod
	💍 1925/9914
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Body Builder	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	7 days	12 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1820
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

9 February 1925

Thomas Moir
Margaret Ann Brighton

Thomas Moir
Margaret Ann Crighton
💍 1925/1279

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

32
30

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

30 years
4 months

Knox Church, Dannevirke

1829

9 February 1925

Rev. A. E. Hunt, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Moir	Margaret Ann Brighton
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Moir	Margaret Ann Crighton
	💍 1925/1279
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	32	30
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	30 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Dannevirke
Folio	1829
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. E. Hunt, 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).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

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.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

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).