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 1443

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

142

19 October 1925

Athel George Stephens
Thelma Gwendoline Peters

Athel George Stephens
Thelma Gwendoline Peters
💍 1925/10088

Bachelor
Spinster

Linotype Operator
Toilet Specialist

26
22

Gisborne
Napier

11 years
11 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

9703

19 October 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	142
Date of Notice	19 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Athel George Stephens	Thelma Gwendoline Peters
	💍 1925/10088
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator	Toilet Specialist
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Napier
Length of Residence	11 years	11 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	9703
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

143

23 October 1925

Gavin Richard Rankin
Margery Emelena Murnane

Gavin Richard Rankin
Margery Emelena Murnane
💍 1925/10095

Bachelor
Spinster

Gas manufacturer
Domestic Duties

26
26

Wellington
Taradale

22 months
26 years

St. Mary's Church, Meeanee

9704

23 October 1925

Father Aubry, Roman Catholic

No	143
Date of Notice	23 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gavin Richard Rankin	Margery Emelena Murnane
	💍 1925/10095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gas manufacturer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Taradale
Length of Residence	22 months	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Church, Meeanee
Folio	9704
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Father Aubry, Roman Catholic

144

23 October 1925

Stanley Wilfred Baker
Beatrice May Cheer

Stanley Wilfred Baker
Beatrice May Cheer
💍 1925/10096

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Domestic Duties

26
24

Napier
Otane

3 days
24 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

9705

23 October 1925

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	144
Date of Notice	23 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Wilfred Baker	Beatrice May Cheer
	💍 1925/10096
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Otane
Length of Residence	3 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	9705
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Registrar

145

24 October 1925

James Boland
Isabell Ellen Robertson

James Boland
Isabell Ellen Robertson
💍 1925/10097

Bachelor
Spinster

Fellmonger
Domestic Duties

35
23

Greenmeadows
Greenmeadows

2 years
2 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

9706

24 October 1925

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	145
Date of Notice	24 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Boland	Isabell Ellen Robertson
	💍 1925/10097
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fellmonger	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Greenmeadows	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	9706
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 October 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Registrar

146

27 October 1925

John McNeece
Mary Catherine Mahoney

John McNeece
Mary Catherine Mahoney
💍 1925/10098

Bachelor
Spinster

Shipping Agent
Domestic Duties

36
28

Napier
Napier

3 years
2 years

St. Patricks Church, Napier

9707

27 October 1925

Father Seymour, Roman Catholic

No	146
Date of Notice	27 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McNeece	Mary Catherine Mahoney
	💍 1925/10098
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shipping Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	9707
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Father Seymour, Roman Catholic

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).