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 1411

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar R. B. 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

154

19 December 1925

Ralph Argus Elliott
Zelva Victoria Robinson

Ralph Angus Elliott
Melva Victoria Robinson
💍 1925/9524

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
School teacher

26
24

Havelock North
Havelock North

2 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

9687

19 December 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	154
Date of Notice	19 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Argus Elliott	Zelva Victoria Robinson
BDM Match (95%)	Ralph Angus Elliott	Melva Victoria Robinson
	💍 1925/9524
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	School teacher
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	9687
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

155

21 December 1925

Arthur Owen Cooper
Myra Kathleen Mary Long

Arthur Owen Cooper
Myra Kathleen Mary Long
💍 1925/9525

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic

21
17

Paki Paki
Hastings

10 years
16 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

9688

Robert Long, Father

23 December 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	155
Date of Notice	21 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Owen Cooper	Myra Kathleen Mary Long
	💍 1925/9525
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	9688
Consent	Robert Long, Father
Date of Certificate	23 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

156

21 December 1925

Clarence Augustus Fitzgerald
Madeline Andersen

No matching record found.

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

27
23

Hastings
Hastings

2 months
2 months

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

21 December 1925

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	156
Date of Notice	21 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Augustus Fitzgerald	Madeline Andersen
	💍 No matching record found.
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

157

21 December 1925

Patrick Egan
Nora Magdalene Baggin

Patrick Egan
Norah Magdalen Maggin
💍 1925/9526

Bachelor
Widow

Farmer
Domestic duties

39
33

Waipukurau
Hastings

17 years
11 years

Catholic Church, Hastings

9689

21 December 1925

Rev. Father O'Donnel, Roman Catholic

No	157
Date of Notice	21 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Egan	Nora Magdalene Baggin
BDM Match (93%)	Patrick Egan	Norah Magdalen Maggin
	💍 1925/9526
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	39	33
Dwelling Place	Waipukurau	Hastings
Length of Residence	17 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	9689
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Donnel, Roman Catholic

158

21 December 1925

Ernest Charles Goodrick
Doris Marian Thompson

Ernest Charles Goodrick
Doris Marion Thompson
💍 1926/412

Bachelor
Spinster

Orchardist
Jewellers Assistant

23
23

Havelock North
Twyford

5 years
18 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

112

21 December 1925

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	158
Date of Notice	21 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Charles Goodrick	Doris Marian Thompson
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Charles Goodrick	Doris Marion Thompson
	💍 1926/412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Jewellers Assistant
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Twyford
Length of Residence	5 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	112
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. 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).