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 1677

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar H. G. Smith

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 January 1925

Cyril Harry Crawford
Muriel Goodwin Douglass

Cyril Harry Crawford
Muriel Goodwin Douglas
💍 1925/1377

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
26

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

1977

6 January 1925

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril Harry Crawford	Muriel Goodwin Douglass
BDM Match (98%)	Cyril Harry Crawford	Muriel Goodwin Douglas
	💍 1925/1377
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	1977
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

16 January 1925

Albert John Eastwick
Eila Mona Macrae

Albert John Eastwick
Eila Mona MacRae
💍 1925/1378

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic Duties

31
24

Johnsonville
Masterton

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

1978

16 January 1925

Rev. Wm. Bullock, Church of England

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Eastwick	Eila Mona Macrae
BDM Match (97%)	Albert John Eastwick	Eila Mona MacRae
	💍 1925/1378
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	1978
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Bullock, Church of England

20 January 1925

James Goldie Brown
Eileen Katherine Sarah Percy

James Goldie Brown
Eileen Katherine Sarah Percy
💍 1925/1379

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic Duties

23
22

Masterton
Bideford, Masterton

Residence of Bride, 'Durslay', Bideford, Masterton

1979

20 January 1925

Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	20 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Goldie Brown	Eileen Katherine Sarah Percy
	💍 1925/1379
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic Duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Bideford, Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, 'Durslay', Bideford, Masterton
Folio	1979
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

2 February 1925

Walter Leslie Fly
Ivy Maud McIsaac

Walter Leslie Fly
Ivy Maud McIsaac
💍 1925/1380

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic Duties

26
18

Masterton
Tinui

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

1980

Hector Scott McIsaac (father)

2 February 1925

Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	2 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Leslie Fly	Ivy Maud McIsaac
	💍 1925/1380
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic Duties
Age	26	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Tinui
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	1980
Consent	Hector Scott McIsaac (father)
Date of Certificate	2 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

2 February 1925

Thomas Herbert Parkin
Ivy Helena Wrigley

Thomas Herbert Parkin
Ivy Helena Wrigley
💍 1925/1381

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic Duties

35
31

Dunedin
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

1981

2 February 1925

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	2 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Herbert Parkin	Ivy Helena Wrigley
	💍 1925/1381
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic Duties
Age	35	31
Dwelling Place	Dunedin	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	1981
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, 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).