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 1421

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

17 March 1925

Thomas Box
Ellen Evelyn Mansner

Thomas Cox
Ellen Evelyn Mansner
💍 1925/1321

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

24
23

Napier
Napier

12 months
23 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1905

17 March 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	17 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Box	Ellen Evelyn Mansner
BDM Match (95%)	Thomas Cox	Ellen Evelyn Mansner
	💍 1925/1321
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	12 months	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1905
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

23 March 1925

Arthur Percy Frank Chapman
Gertrude Helen Hudson Lowry

Arthur Percy Frank Chapman
Gertrude Helen Hudson Lowry
💍 1925/1328

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewers Pupil
Domestic Duties

24
22

Matapiro
Okawa

1 month
22 years

St. George's Chapel, Brownthorpe

1906

23 March 1925

J. C. Bullwick, Church of England

No	42
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Percy Frank Chapman	Gertrude Helen Hudson Lowry
	💍 1925/1328
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewers Pupil	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Matapiro	Okawa
Length of Residence	1 month	22 years
Marriage Place	St. George's Chapel, Brownthorpe
Folio	1906
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. C. Bullwick, Church of England

23 March 1925

George Henry Young
Sophia Harriett Lee

George Henry Young
Sophia Harriet Lee
💍 1925/1329

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
23

Black Stag, Tutira
Black Stag, Tutira

26 years
4 weeks

Residence of George Henry Young, Black Stag, Tutira

1907

23 March 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	43
Date of Notice	23 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Young	Sophia Harriett Lee
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Young	Sophia Harriet Lee
	💍 1925/1329
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	Black Stag, Tutira	Black Stag, Tutira
Length of Residence	26 years	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of George Henry Young, Black Stag, Tutira
Folio	1907
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Church of England

24 March 1925

Frederick John May
Isafrael Nora Clark

Frederick John May
Isafrael Nora Clark
💍 1925/1330

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

35
27

Napier
Christchurch, Napier

7 months
25 years, 4 days

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1908

24 March 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	44
Date of Notice	24 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick John May	Isafrael Nora Clark
	💍 1925/1330
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	35	27
Dwelling Place	Napier	Christchurch, Napier
Length of Residence	7 months	25 years, 4 days
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1908
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 March 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

27 March 1925

William James Hamilton
Euphemia Simpson MacLeod

William James Hamilton
Euphemia Simpson MacLeod
💍 1925/1331

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

45
34

Napier, Springston, Canterbury
Puketapu, Rissington

3 days, 10 years
3 days, 10 years

Presbyterian Church, Taradale

1909

27 March 1925

C. Brierly, Presbyterian

No	45
Date of Notice	27 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Hamilton	Euphemia Simpson MacLeod
	💍 1925/1331
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	45	34
Dwelling Place	Napier, Springston, Canterbury	Puketapu, Rissington
Length of Residence	3 days, 10 years	3 days, 10 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Taradale
Folio	1909
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Brierly, Presbyterian

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).