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 1409

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 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

144

1 December 1925

Walter William Sims
Annie Elizabeth Stowe

Walter William Sims
Annie Elizabeth Stowe
💍 1925/9533

Widower
Divorced (decree absolute 27 November 1925)

Manufacturer
Domestic duties

56
53

Tomoana
Waipukurau

30 years
50 years

Baptist Manse, Havelock Road

678

1 December 1925

Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

No	144
Date of Notice	1 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter William Sims	Annie Elizabeth Stowe
	💍 1925/9533
Condition	Widower	Divorced (decree absolute 27 November 1925)
Profession	Manufacturer	Domestic duties
Age	56	53
Dwelling Place	Tomoana	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	30 years	50 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse, Havelock Road
Folio	678
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Keith Ewen, Baptist

145

3 December 1925

Arthur Henry Johnson
Laura Helen Grace Milden

Arthur Henry Johnson
Laura Helen Grace Mildon
💍 1925/9540

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

21
19

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
10 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

9679

Richard Oliver Milden, Father

3 December 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	3 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Johnson	Laura Helen Grace Milden
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Henry Johnson	Laura Helen Grace Mildon
	💍 1925/9540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	9679
Consent	Richard Oliver Milden, Father
Date of Certificate	3 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

146

4 December 1925

John Henry Williams
Eulalie Gigg

John Henry Williams
Eulalie Gigg
💍 1925/9541

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman
Domestic duties

34
20

Hastings
Hastings

14 years
20 years

Wesleyan Church, Hastings

9680

David Thomas Gigg, Father

4 December 1925

Rev. Copeland, Methodist

No	146
Date of Notice	4 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Williams	Eulalie Gigg
	💍 1925/9541
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman	Domestic duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	14 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Hastings
Folio	9680
Consent	David Thomas Gigg, Father
Date of Certificate	4 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Copeland, Methodist

147

7 December 1925

George Herbert Kershaw
Florence Butcher

George Herbert Kershaw
Florence Butcher
💍 1925/9542

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Company Secretary

28
31

Waipukurau
Hastings

25 years
20 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9681

7 December 1925

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	147
Date of Notice	7 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Herbert Kershaw	Florence Butcher
	💍 1925/9542
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Company Secretary
Age	28	31
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9681
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

148

8 December 1925

Frederick Montague Nelson
Mary Cooper

Frederick Montague Nelson
Mary Cooper
💍 1925/9543

Widower (25 November 1924)
Widow (18 March 1923)

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

56
34

Hastings
Petane

50 years
34 years

Napier Cathedral

9682

8 December 1925

Rev. Dean Mayne, Anglican

No	148
Date of Notice	8 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Montague Nelson	Mary Cooper
	💍 1925/9543
Condition	Widower (25 November 1924)	Widow (18 March 1923)
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	56	34
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Petane
Length of Residence	50 years	34 years
Marriage Place	Napier Cathedral
Folio	9682
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Mayne, 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).