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 1423

District of Napier Quarter ending 30 June 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

1 April 1925

Kenneth Douglas Croft
Daisy Pearl Annan

Kenneth Douglas Croft
Daisy Pearl Annan
💍 1925/4674

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

23
24

Napier
Napier

2 years
15 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

4456

1 April 1925

F. Mayne, Church of England

No	48
Date of Notice	1 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Douglas Croft	Daisy Pearl Annan
	💍 1925/4674
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	2 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	4456
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Church of England

2 April 1925

Archibald Lawrenson Martin
Dolina Jessie McHugh

Archibald Lawrenson Martin
Dolina Jessie McHugh
💍 1925/4675

Bachelor
Widow

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

33
37

Napier
Napier

5 years
8 years

22 Marine Parade, Napier

4457

7 June 1917

2 April 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	2 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Lawrenson Martin	Dolina Jessie McHugh
	💍 1925/4675
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	22 Marine Parade, Napier
Folio	4457
Consent	7 June 1917
Date of Certificate	2 April 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

3 April 1925

William Henry Menefy
Ethel May Borkell

William Henry Menefy
Ethel May Corkill
💍 1925/4677

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Stenographer

36
31

Napier
Napier

5 years
23 years

Residence of Mrs. Borkell, 70 Carlyle Street, Napier

4458

3 April 1925

B. Metson, Methodist

No	50
Date of Notice	3 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Menefy	Ethel May Borkell
BDM Match (94%)	William Henry Menefy	Ethel May Corkill
	💍 1925/4677
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Stenographer
Age	36	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. Borkell, 70 Carlyle Street, Napier
Folio	4458
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 April 1925
Officiating Minister	B. Metson, Methodist

6 April 1925

Mason Waterworth
Margaret Marion Alexander

Mason Waterworth
Margaret Marion Alexander
💍 1925/4678

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Domestic Duties

23
23

Napier
Hastings

1 week
9 months

All Saints Church, Taradale

4459

6 April 1925

A. Hodge, Church of England

No	51
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mason Waterworth	Margaret Marion Alexander
	💍 1925/4678
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 week	9 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Taradale
Folio	4459
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	A. Hodge, Church of England

8 April 1925

William James Mitchell
Elizabeth McCarthy

William James Mitchell
Elizabeth McCarthy
💍 1925/4655

Bachelor
Spinster

Lighterman
Shop Assistant

45
33

Napier
Napier

45 years
19 months

St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri

4460

8 April 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	52
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Mitchell	Elizabeth McCarthy
	💍 1925/4655
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lighterman	Shop Assistant
Age	45	33
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	45 years	19 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	4460
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, 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).