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 1377

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

1 January 1925

Thomas William Simms
Elsie Elinor Hemmingson

Thomas William Timms
Elsie Elinor Hemmingson
💍 1925/1281

Bachelor
Divorced, decree absolute 19 July 1924

Labourer
Domestic

25
26

Tomoana
Hastings

25 years
10 months

Methodist Church, Hastings

1831

1 January 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	1
Date of Notice	1 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Simms	Elsie Elinor Hemmingson
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas William Timms	Elsie Elinor Hemmingson
	💍 1925/1281
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced, decree absolute 19 July 1924
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Tomoana	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1831
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

2 January 1925

Laurance Arthur Calvert
Mary Veronica Clegg

Laurance Arthur Calvert
Mary Veronica Clegg
💍 1925/1282

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Saleswoman

31
27

Wellington
Hastings

3 years
11 years

Methodist Manse, Hastings

1832

2 January 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	2
Date of Notice	2 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurance Arthur Calvert	Mary Veronica Clegg
	💍 1925/1282
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Saleswoman
Age	31	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Hastings
Folio	1832
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

5 January 1925

William Logan Wallace
Marie Dorothea Keithe

William Logan Wallace
Marie Dorothea Neithe
💍 1925/1283

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman of Works
Domestic

34
24

Hastings
Hastings

10 days
10 days

Registrars Office, Hastings

1833

5 January 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Logan Wallace	Marie Dorothea Keithe
BDM Match (98%)	William Logan Wallace	Marie Dorothea Neithe
	💍 1925/1283
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman of Works	Domestic
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 days	10 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	1833
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

6 January 1925

Alfred John Jonassen
Violet Vera Thomas

Alfred John Jonasen
Violet Vera Thomas
💍 1925/1284

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

31
23

Whetukura
Hastings

3 years
2 days

Methodist Church, Hastings

1834

6 January 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	4
Date of Notice	6 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred John Jonassen	Violet Vera Thomas
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred John Jonasen	Violet Vera Thomas
	💍 1925/1284
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Whetukura	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	2 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1834
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

6 January 1925

Clifford Arnold Beckett
Helen Kenny

Clifford Arnold Beckett
Helen Kenny
💍 1925/1261

Bachelor
Spinster

Bookbinder
Bookbinder

24
22

Hastings
Hastings

14 years
7 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

1835

6 January 1925

Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

No	5
Date of Notice	6 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clifford Arnold Beckett	Helen Kenny
	💍 1925/1261
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bookbinder	Bookbinder
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	1835
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. T. Hall, Anglican

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).