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 1441

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 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

132

1 October 1925

Alexander Patrick Tierney
Vera Olive Clark

Alexander Patrick Tierney
Vera Olive Clark
💍 1925/9530

Bachelor
Spinster

Military Instructor
Shop Assistant

25
21

Wellington
Napier

15 months
11 years

St. Pauls church, Napier

9693

1 October 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	1 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Patrick Tierney	Vera Olive Clark
	💍 1925/9530
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Military Instructor	Shop Assistant
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Napier
Length of Residence	15 months	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls church, Napier
Folio	9693
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 October 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

133

5 October 1925

Thomas Allan Bain
Rene Lilian Harper

Thomas Allan Bain
Rene Lilian Harper
💍 1925/9531

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Officer
Domestic Duties

24
25

Napier
Waitio, Hastings

18 months
10 years

St. Georges chapel, brownthorpe

9694

5 October 1925

C. Brierly, Presbyterian

No	133
Date of Notice	5 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Allan Bain	Rene Lilian Harper
	💍 1925/9531
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Officer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Waitio, Hastings
Length of Residence	18 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Georges chapel, brownthorpe
Folio	9694
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Brierly, Presbyterian

134

6 October 1925

Roy Gray Bartlett
Olive Kate Andersen

Roy Gray Bartlett
Olive Kate Andersen
💍 1925/9532

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Housemaid

24
22

Napier
Norsewood

4 years
3 years

Methodist church, Napier

9695

6 October 1925

B. Metson, Methodist

No	134
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Gray Bartlett	Olive Kate Andersen
	💍 1925/9532
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Housemaid
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Norsewood
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist church, Napier
Folio	9695
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 October 1925
Officiating Minister	B. Metson, Methodist

135

9 October 1925

William Crump
Letitia Mary Jones

William Crump
Letitia Mary Jones
💍 1925/9534

Widower
Widow

Joiner
Domestic Duties

58
59

Wairoa
Wairoa

6 months
12 years

St. Johns cathedral, Napier

9696

9 October 1925

F. Mayne, Church of England

No	135
Date of Notice	9 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Crump	Letitia Mary Jones
	💍 1925/9534
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	58	59
Dwelling Place	Wairoa	Wairoa
Length of Residence	6 months	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Johns cathedral, Napier
Folio	9696
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 October 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Church of England

136

12 October 1925

William Gordon Fletcher
Marjorie Inez Sangster

William Gordon Fletcher
Marjorie Inez Sangster
💍 1925/9535

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

19
20

Maraekakaho
Napier

3 years
5 years

St. Augustines church, Napier

9697

Ellen Fletcher (Mother), Sarah Sangster (Mother)

12 October 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	136
Date of Notice	12 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gordon Fletcher	Marjorie Inez Sangster
	💍 1925/9535
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Maraekakaho	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustines church, Napier
Folio	9697
Consent	Ellen Fletcher (Mother), Sarah Sangster (Mother)
Date of Certificate	12 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, 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).