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 1387

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar R. Borchard

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

9 April 1925

George Evan Craft
Aileen Daisy Gooby

George Evan Craft
Aileen Daisy Grooby
💍 1925/4614

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

31
31

Hastings
Hastings

4 weeks
3 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4420

9 April 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	47
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Evan Craft	Aileen Daisy Gooby
BDM Match (97%)	George Evan Craft	Aileen Daisy Grooby
	💍 1925/4614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	31	31
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4420
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

9 April 1925

Norman James Alexander Luley
Minnie West

Norman James Alexander Duley
Minnie West
💍 1925/4616

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmill hand
Domestic duties

26
22

Puketitiri
Hastings

4 years
22 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

4421

9 April 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman James Alexander Luley	Minnie West
BDM Match (98%)	Norman James Alexander Duley	Minnie West
	💍 1925/4616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmill hand	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Puketitiri	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	4421
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

14 April 1925

Walter Rewi Kibblewhite
Tui Isobel Matthews

Walter Rewi Kibblewhite
Tui Isobel Matthews
💍 1925/4617

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
25

Hatuma
Hastings

10 years
15 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4422

14 April 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	49
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Rewi Kibblewhite	Tui Isobel Matthews
	💍 1925/4617
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Hatuma	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4422
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

22 April 1925

George Grenville
Mary Ann Johnson

George Grenville
Mary Ann Johnson
💍 1925/4618

Widower (8 October 1920)
Widow (8 June 1905)

Labourer
Domestic duties

52
53

Napier
Hastings

11 years
3 days

Registrars Office, Hastings

4423

22 April 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	50
Date of Notice	22 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Grenville	Mary Ann Johnson
	💍 1925/4618
Condition	Widower (8 October 1920)	Widow (8 June 1905)
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	52	53
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	11 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	4423
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

22 April 1925

Bertram Allaway Torbett
Philomeng Dominia Lynn

Bertram Allaway Torbett
Philomena Dominica Lynn
💍 1925/4619

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Dressmaker

24
29

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
29 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4424

22 April 1925

Rev. G. F. McDonald, Anglican

No	51
Date of Notice	22 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Allaway Torbett	Philomeng Dominia Lynn
BDM Match (96%)	Bertram Allaway Torbett	Philomena Dominica Lynn
	💍 1925/4619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Dressmaker
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	29 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4424
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. McDonald, 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).

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).