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 1425

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

15 April 1925

Arthur Oliver
Florence Maude Hill

Arthur Oliver
Florence Maude Hill
💍 1925/4661

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Clerk

36
27

Taradale
Taradale

10 months
5 days, 6 months

All Saints Church, Taradale

4466

15 April 1925

A. Hodge, Church of England

No	58
Date of Notice	15 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Oliver	Florence Maude Hill
	💍 1925/4661
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Clerk
Age	36	27
Dwelling Place	Taradale	Taradale
Length of Residence	10 months	5 days, 6 months
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Taradale
Folio	4466
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 April 1925
Officiating Minister	A. Hodge, Church of England

16 April 1925

George Percy Long
Gertrude Jennie Le Bas

George Percy Long
Gertrude Jennie Le Bas
💍 1925/4662

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

38
32

Napier
Napier

5 years
32 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

4467

16 April 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	59
Date of Notice	16 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Percy Long	Gertrude Jennie Le Bas
	💍 1925/4662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	4467
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

17 April 1925

Frederick Leonard Nicholas Collins
Margaret Sophia Gough

Frederick Leonard Nicholas Collins
Margaret Sophia Gough
💍 1925/4663

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver
Waitress

26
34

Napier
Napier

26 years
2 years

St. Patrick's Church, Napier

4468

17 April 1925

Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	60
Date of Notice	17 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Leonard Nicholas Collins	Margaret Sophia Gough
	💍 1925/4663
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver	Waitress
Age	26	34
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	26 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Napier
Folio	4468
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Father Tymons, Roman Catholic

17 April 1925

Arthur Edwin John Simmons
Ethel Elma Jarvis

Arthur Edwin John Simmons
Ethel Elma Jarvis
💍 1925/4664

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Domestic Duties

23
23

Napier
Napier

23 years
23 years

Congregational Church, Napier

4469

17 April 1925

D. Gardner Miller, Congregational

No	61
Date of Notice	17 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edwin John Simmons	Ethel Elma Jarvis
	💍 1925/4664
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Napier
Folio	4469
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 April 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Gardner Miller, Congregational

20 April 1925

William Stephen Vincent Bransgrove
Mona McLeod

William Stephen Vincent Bransgrove
Mona McLeod
💍 1925/4666

Bachelor
Spinster

Medical Practitioner
Domestic Duties

34
20

Napier
Palmerston North

3 days
1 year

St. Pauls Church, Napier

4470

Margaret McLeod, mother

20 April 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	62
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Stephen Vincent Bransgrove	Mona McLeod
	💍 1925/4666
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Medical Practitioner	Domestic Duties
Age	34	20
Dwelling Place	Napier	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Napier
Folio	4470
Consent	Margaret McLeod, mother
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, 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).