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 1359

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar K. W. C. [illegible]

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

21 February 1925

Walter Stanley Allen
Eva Mabel Tilson

Walter Stanley Allen
Eva Mabel Tilson
💍 1925/9909

Bachelor
Spinster

Engine Driver
Domestic Duties

30
21

Ohakune Junction
Piri Piri

3 days
21 years

St. John's Church

1816

21 February 1925

Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	21 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Stanley Allen	Eva Mabel Tilson
	💍 1925/9909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engine Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	30	21
Dwelling Place	Ohakune Junction	Piri Piri
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Church
Folio	1816
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. B. Stephenson, Anglican

25 February 1925

John Benjimen Bakel
Phoebe Lavina Thoresen

John Benjamin Baker
Phoebe Lavina Thoresen
💍 1925/9919

Widower 1.2.1922
Widow 24.11.20

Farmer
Domestic Duties

29
29

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

5 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

1825

25 February 1925

N. Webley, Registrar

No	12
Date of Notice	25 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjimen Bakel	Phoebe Lavina Thoresen
BDM Match (92%)	John Benjamin Baker	Phoebe Lavina Thoresen
	💍 1925/9919
Condition	Widower 1.2.1922	Widow 24.11.20
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	5 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1825
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 February 1925
Officiating Minister	N. Webley, Registrar

13 March 1925

Herbert Skipp Stephenson
Grace Wilkins

Herbert Skipp Stephenson
Grace Wilkins
💍 1925/1260

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Domestic Duties

22
28

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

18 years
2 years

Residence of Mrs Harrigan, 199 High Street, Dannevirke

1826

13 March 1925

Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	13 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Skipp Stephenson	Grace Wilkins
	💍 1925/1260
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	28
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	18 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs Harrigan, 199 High Street, Dannevirke
Folio	1826
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. E. Sage, Methodist

18 March 1925

Charles Hutton
May Limpkin

Charles Hutton
May Simpkin
💍 1925/1271

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Domestic

48
32

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office

1827

18 March 1925

N. Webley, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	18 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Hutton	May Limpkin
BDM Match (95%)	Charles Hutton	May Simpkin
	💍 1925/1271
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Domestic
Age	48	32
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	1827
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1925
Officiating Minister	N. Webley, Registrar

23 March 1925

John Todd
Annie Bolstad

John Todd
Annie Bolstad
💍 1925/1278

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric wireman
Domestic

29
31

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

9 months
3 years

Salvation Army Hall, Dannevirke

1828

23 March 1925

Ensign H. B. Hawkes, Salvation Army

No	15
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Todd	Annie Bolstad
	💍 1925/1278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric wireman	Domestic
Age	29	31
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Dannevirke
Folio	1828
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Ensign H. B. Hawkes, Salvation Army

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).