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 1367

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar R. B. Barton

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 July 1925

Sydney Drewitt Larsen
Mavis Elizabeth Rendle

Sydney Drewett Larsen
Mavis Elizabeth Rendle
💍 1925/6866

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

27
21

Umutaoroa
Rua Roa

33 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Dannevirke

6866

3 July 1925

Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

No	34
Date of Notice	2 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Drewitt Larsen	Mavis Elizabeth Rendle
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Drewett Larsen	Mavis Elizabeth Rendle
	💍 1925/6866
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Umutaoroa	Rua Roa
Length of Residence	33 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Dannevirke
Folio	6866
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Daniel, Methodist

3 July 1925

Henry Harvey
Eleanor Noridem Williamson

Henry Harvey
Eleanor Noredem Williamson
💍 1925/6867

Bachelor
Divorced 1 July 1925

Farm labourer
Domestic duties

43
41

Oringi
Kaitoki

5 years
17 years

Registrar's Office, Dannevirke

6867

3 July 1925

R. B. Barton, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	3 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Harvey	Eleanor Noridem Williamson
BDM Match (98%)	Henry Harvey	Eleanor Noredem Williamson
	💍 1925/6867
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 1 July 1925
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic duties
Age	43	41
Dwelling Place	Oringi	Kaitoki
Length of Residence	5 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dannevirke
Folio	6867
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 July 1925
Officiating Minister	R. B. Barton, Registrar

7 July 1925

Ernest John Scrimshaw
Margaret McKean

Ernest John Scrimshaw
Margaret McLean
💍 1925/6868

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

33
22

Akitio
Weber

5 days
[illegible]

Registrar's Office, Dannevirke

6868

7 July 1925

R. B. Barton, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	7 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest John Scrimshaw	Margaret McKean
BDM Match (97%)	Ernest John Scrimshaw	Margaret McLean
	💍 1925/6868
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	33	22
Dwelling Place	Akitio	Weber
Length of Residence	5 days	[illegible]
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dannevirke
Folio	6868
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	R. B. Barton, Registrar

4 July 1925

Richard Daniel Siggins
Mabel Beale

Richard Daniel Goggin
Mabel Veale
💍 1925/6869

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
22

Raumati
Norsewood

15 years
life

Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke

6869

4 July 1925

Rev. F. Devlin, Roman Catholic

No	37
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Daniel Siggins	Mabel Beale
BDM Match (89%)	Richard Daniel Goggin	Mabel Veale
	💍 1925/6869
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Raumati	Norsewood
Length of Residence	15 years	life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke
Folio	6869
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Devlin, Roman Catholic

4 July 1925

Robert Caswill
Mary Matilda Harris

Robert Caswill
May Matilda Harris
💍 1925/6871

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

35
33

Kaitaki
Dannevirke

11 years
1 week

Church of England, Dannevirke

6870

4 July 1925

Rev. B. Stephenson, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Caswill	Mary Matilda Harris
BDM Match (97%)	Robert Caswill	May Matilda Harris
	💍 1925/6871
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	35	33
Dwelling Place	Kaitaki	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	11 years	1 week
Marriage Place	Church of England, Dannevirke
Folio	6870
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. Stephenson, Church of England

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).