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 1415

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

16 January 1925

John Paget Mackay
Amy Minnie Kiesterer

John Paget Mackay
Amy Minnie Riesterer
💍 1925/1249

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Milliner

32
23

Napier
Wairoa

7 years
16 months

St Pauls Church, Napier

1875

16 January 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	16 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Paget Mackay	Amy Minnie Kiesterer
BDM Match (98%)	John Paget Mackay	Amy Minnie Riesterer
	💍 1925/1249
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Milliner
Age	32	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Wairoa
Length of Residence	7 years	16 months
Marriage Place	St Pauls Church, Napier
Folio	1875
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

14 January 1925

John Blair
Ursula Ada Young

John Blair
Ursula Ada Young
💍 1925/1250

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

21
21

Eskdale
Tutira

4 years
21 years

Residence of G. W. Young, Tutira

1876

17 January 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	12
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Blair	Ursula Ada Young
	💍 1925/1250
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Eskdale	Tutira
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. W. Young, Tutira
Folio	1876
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Church of England

17 January 1925

Samuel Gordon Norris
Dorothy Monica Davidson

Samuel Gordon Norris
Dorothy Monica Davidson
💍 1925/1251

Bachelor
Spinster

Weigh Clerk
Teacher

25
24

Paki Paki
Paki Paki

4 years
2 years

St Augustines Church, Napier

1877

17 January 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	17 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Gordon Norris	Dorothy Monica Davidson
	💍 1925/1251
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Weigh Clerk	Teacher
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Paki Paki
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	1877
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

19 January 1925

Joseph Walker
Gladys Field

Joseph Walker
Gladys Field
💍 1925/1252

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Porter
Machinist

29
23

Paekakariki
Napier

2 years
20 years

St Augustines Church, Napier

1878

19 January 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	19 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Walker	Gladys Field
	💍 1925/1252
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Porter	Machinist
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Paekakariki	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St Augustines Church, Napier
Folio	1878
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

19 January 1925

Thomas Henry James Webberley
Phyllis Scott

Thomas Henry James Hebberley
Phyllis Scott
💍 1925/1285

Bachelor
Spinster

Postal Official
Domestic

24
27

Napier
Napier

24 years
5 years

St John's Cathedral, Napier

1879

19 January 1925

F. Mayne, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	19 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry James Webberley	Phyllis Scott
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry James Hebberley	Phyllis Scott
	💍 1925/1285
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Postal Official	Domestic
Age	24	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1879
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Church of England

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).