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 1607

District of Feilding Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar W. W. Christie

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

6 April 1925

James Lanyon McKissock
Jean McLean Thomson

James Lanyon McKissock
Jean McLean Thomson
💍 1925/4813

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Clerk

23
23

Wellington
Feilding

-
4 days

Te Rakehou, Halcombe Rd, Feilding

4546

6 April 1925

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Lanyon McKissock	Jean McLean Thomson
	💍 1925/4813
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Feilding
Length of Residence	-	4 days
Marriage Place	Te Rakehou, Halcombe Rd, Feilding
Folio	4546
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

8 April 1925

Ray Hugh Bailey
Vera May Brunette

Ray Hugh Bailey
Vera May Brunette
💍 1925/4815

Bachelor
Spinster

Timber merchant
Domestic Duties

37
22

Feilding
Wellington

3 years
4 years

St Peter's Church, Wellington

4547

8 April 1925

Rev. H. Watson, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ray Hugh Bailey	Vera May Brunette
	💍 1925/4815
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Timber merchant	Domestic Duties
Age	37	22
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Wellington
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Peter's Church, Wellington
Folio	4547
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Watson, Church of England

11 April 1925

William Charles Cook
Viola Louise Sporle

William Charles Cook
Viola Louise Sporle
💍 1925/4816

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic Duties

28
21

Invercargill
Feilding

-
20 years

Church of England, Feilding

4548

11 April 1925

Rev. F. H. Petrie, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	11 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Cook	Viola Louise Sporle
	💍 1925/4816
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic Duties
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Feilding
Length of Residence	-	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Feilding
Folio	4548
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. H. Petrie, Church of England

12 May 1925

Hughey Edward Port
Minnie Simpson

Hughey Edward Port
Minnie Simpson
💍 1925/4817

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
24

Lees Line, Feilding
Lees Line, Feilding

-
24 years

Residence of John Simpson, Lees Line, Feilding

4549

12 May 1925

Rev. W. Jones, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	12 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hughey Edward Port	Minnie Simpson
	💍 1925/4817
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Lees Line, Feilding	Lees Line, Feilding
Length of Residence	-	24 years
Marriage Place	Residence of John Simpson, Lees Line, Feilding
Folio	4549
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Jones, Methodist

16 May 1925

John Bines Arnold
Madge Beatrice Edwards

John Buiss Arnold
Madge Beatrice Edwards
💍 1925/4818

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

22
23

Cambridge
Feilding

-
15 years

Presbyterian Church, Feilding

4550

16 May 1925

Rev. T. Miller, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	16 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bines Arnold	Madge Beatrice Edwards
BDM Match (91%)	John Buiss Arnold	Madge Beatrice Edwards
	💍 1925/4818
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Cambridge	Feilding
Length of Residence	-	15 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Feilding
Folio	4550
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Miller, 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).