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 1395

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

John Pallesen
Ruth Evelyn Jane Wall

John Pallesen
Ruth Evelyn Jane Wall
💍 1925/6887

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Tailoress

30
19

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
12 years

Residence of Mr. W. J. Wall, 309 Townshend Street, Hastings

6887

William James Wall, Father

2 July 1925

Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

No	83
Date of Notice	2 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Pallesen	Ruth Evelyn Jane Wall
	💍 1925/6887
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Tailoress
Age	30	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. W. J. Wall, 309 Townshend Street, Hastings
Folio	6887
Consent	William James Wall, Father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

2 July 1925

Sydney Terry
Jane Christina Beads

Sydney Terry
Jane Christina Meads
💍 1925/6888

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic duties

46
36

Hastings
Havelock North

2 years
6 years

Presbyterian Church, Havelock North

6888

2 July 1925

Rev. Robert Waugh, Presbyterian

No	84
Date of Notice	2 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Terry	Jane Christina Beads
BDM Match (98%)	Sydney Terry	Jane Christina Meads
	💍 1925/6888
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic duties
Age	46	36
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	2 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Havelock North
Folio	6888
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robert Waugh, Presbyterian

4 July 1925

George Howard Tanner
Evelyn May Hone

George Howard Tanner
Evelyn May Hone
💍 1925/6889

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Milliner

19
20

Hastings
Hastings

3 months
5 months

House of Rev. F. Copeland, 501 Queen Street, Hastings

6889

George Tanner, Father; Alice May Hone, Mother

4 July 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	85
Date of Notice	4 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Howard Tanner	Evelyn May Hone
	💍 1925/6889
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Milliner
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	5 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. F. Copeland, 501 Queen Street, Hastings
Folio	6889
Consent	George Tanner, Father; Alice May Hone, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

6 July 1925

Leonard Miller
Phyllis Emily Gilbert

Leonard Miller
Phyllis Emily Gilbert
💍 1925/6890

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Parlour Maid

29
24

Hastings
Tamumu, Waipawa

20 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

6890

6 July 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	86
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Miller	Phyllis Emily Gilbert
	💍 1925/6890
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Parlour Maid
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Tamumu, Waipawa
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	6890
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

6 July 1925

James Edward Chalmer Whibley
Annie Elizabeth Reeves

James Edward Chalmer Whibley
Annie Elizabeth Reeves
💍 1925/6891

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

26
22

Hastings
Hastings

7 days
22 years

Baptist Church, Hastings

6891

6 July 1925

Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

No	87
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edward Chalmer Whibley	Annie Elizabeth Reeves
	💍 1925/6891
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 days	22 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Hastings
Folio	6891
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

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).