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 1393

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar R. 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

11 June 1925

Thomas Henry Bracroft
Rosa Myrtle Thompson

Thomas Henry Cracroft
Rosina Myrtle Thompson
💍 1925/4721

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

28
25

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
14 days

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4450

11 June 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	77
Date of Notice	11 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Bracroft	Rosa Myrtle Thompson
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Henry Cracroft	Rosina Myrtle Thompson
	💍 1925/4721
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	14 days
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4450
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

15 June 1925

William Joseph Fix
Lorna LeQuesne

William Joseph Fix
Lorna Le Quesne
💍 1925/4654

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Salesman
Home duties

28
24

Hastings
Hastings

4 days
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4451

15 June 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	78
Date of Notice	15 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph Fix	Lorna LeQuesne
BDM Match (97%)	William Joseph Fix	Lorna Le Quesne
	💍 1925/4654
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman	Home duties
Age	28	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4451
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

22 June 1925

Clarence Huntly Francis Brown
Ann Veronica Gillespie

Clarence Huntly Francis Brown
Ann Veronica Gillespie
💍 1925/4665

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Picker
Domestic duties

22
25

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
1 year

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4452

22 June 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	79
Date of Notice	22 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Huntly Francis Brown	Ann Veronica Gillespie
	💍 1925/4665
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Picker	Domestic duties
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4452
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

23 June 1925

William Norman Bryce
Ethel Grace Monk

William Norman Bryce
Ethel Grace Monk
💍 1925/4672

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Officer
Domestic

41
21

Hastings
Hastings

3 days
21 years

Registrars Office, Hastings

4453

23 June 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	80
Date of Notice	23 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Norman Bryce	Ethel Grace Monk
	💍 1925/4672
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Officer	Domestic
Age	41	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	4453
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

25 June 1925

James Livingston
Mona Margaret Martin

James Livingston
Mona Margaret Martin
💍 1925/4673

Widower
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Nurse

50
27

Dannevirke
Hastings

9 Sept, 1923
3 days

Registrars Office, Hastings

4454

25 June 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	81
Date of Notice	25 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Livingston	Mona Margaret Martin
	💍 1925/4673
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Nurse
Age	50	27
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Hastings
Length of Residence	9 Sept, 1923	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	4454
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

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).