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 1413

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

5 January 1925

Arthur Lawrence Johnstone
Betty May Matheson

Arthur Lawrence Johnstone
Betty May Matheson
💍 1925/1240

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
22

Napier
Invercargill

3 months
1 month

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1865

5 January 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Lawrence Johnstone	Betty May Matheson
	💍 1925/1240
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 months	1 month
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1865
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

5 January 1925

Francis Basside Twigg
Olive Edith Russell

Francis Cassidi Twigg
Olive Edith Russell
💍 1925/1241

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

50
30

Napier
Napier

50 years
3 years

St. Johns Cathedral, Napier

1866

5 January 1925

F. Mayne, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	5 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Basside Twigg	Olive Edith Russell
BDM Match (95%)	Francis Cassidi Twigg	Olive Edith Russell
	💍 1925/1241
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	50	30
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	50 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1866
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Church of England

9 January 1925

James Henry Clapp
Christina Breras

James Henry Clapp
Christina Crerar
💍 1925/1242

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
27

Wellington
Auckland

3 months
15 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

1867

9 January 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Clapp	Christina Breras
BDM Match (94%)	James Henry Clapp	Christina Crerar
	💍 1925/1242
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 months	15 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1867
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

9 January 1925

Frederick Henry Caledonian Mills
Harriett Kathleen Moore

Frederick Henry Caledonian Mills
Harriett Kathleen Moore
💍 1925/1243

Bachelor
Spinster

Hairdresser
Dressmaker

31
28

Napier
Napier

12 years
10 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1868

9 January 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	9 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Henry Caledonian Mills	Harriett Kathleen Moore
	💍 1925/1243
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hairdresser	Dressmaker
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1868
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

9 January 1925

James Demetrius O'Brien
Ada Chapman-Taylor

James Demetrius O'Brien
Ada Chapman Taylor
💍 1925/1244

Bachelor
Spinster

Court Official
Dental Nurse

21
20

Napier
Napier

4 years
4 years

St. Patricks Church, Napier

1869

James Walter Chapman-Taylor, Father

9 January 1925

J. Clancy, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	9 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Demetrius O'Brien	Ada Chapman-Taylor
BDM Match (97%)	James Demetrius O'Brien	Ada Chapman Taylor
	💍 1925/1244
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Court Official	Dental Nurse
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	1869
Consent	James Walter Chapman-Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	9 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. Clancy, Roman Catholic

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).