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 1691

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 September 1925

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

21 July 1925

John Joseph Brophy
Agnes Josephine Donovan

John Joseph Brophy
Agnes Josephine Donovan
💍 1925/7041

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

23
20

Masterton
Masterton

St. Patrick's Church, Masterton

7041

John Joseph Donovan (Father)

21 July 1925

Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

No	61
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Brophy	Agnes Josephine Donovan
	💍 1925/7041
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Masterton
Folio	7041
Consent	John Joseph Donovan (Father)
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. McKenna, Roman Catholic

29 July 1925

Roy Trenton Giles
Mona McDonald

Roy Trenton Giles
Mona McDonald
💍 1925/7042

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

31
20

Masterton
Masterton

Registrar's Office, Masterton

7042

No one in New Zealand authorized to give consent

13 August 1925

Mr. W. S. Jones, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	29 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Trenton Giles	Mona McDonald
	💍 1925/7042
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	7042
Consent	No one in New Zealand authorized to give consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. W. S. Jones, Registrar

30 July 1925

William Henry Bradley
Jessie Mildred Warbey

William Harry Bradley
Jessie Mildred Narbey
💍 1925/7043

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Upholsteress

31
26

Masterton
Masterton

Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne, Masterton

7043

30 July 1925

Rev. G. A. King, Presbyterian

No	63
Date of Notice	30 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Bradley	Jessie Mildred Warbey
BDM Match (93%)	William Harry Bradley	Jessie Mildred Narbey
	💍 1925/7043
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Upholsteress
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Lansdowne, Masterton
Folio	7043
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. King, Presbyterian

3 August 1925

Geoffery John Billinghurst
Janet Osborn McGinn

Geoffery John Billinghurst
Janet Osborn McMinn
💍 1925/7044

Bachelor
Spinster

Wiring Inspector
Waitress

29
24

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

7044

3 August 1925

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	3 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Geoffery John Billinghurst	Janet Osborn McGinn
BDM Match (97%)	Geoffery John Billinghurst	Janet Osborn McMinn
	💍 1925/7044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wiring Inspector	Waitress
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	7044
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

4 August 1925

Victor John Wise
Grace Evelyn Chapman

Victor John Wise
Grace Evelyn Chapman
💍 1925/7046

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Accountant
Domestic Duties

31
23

Wellington
Masterton

Wesley Church, Masterton

7045

4 August 1925

Rev. M. Beckett, Methodist

No	65
Date of Notice	4 August 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor John Wise	Grace Evelyn Chapman
	💍 1925/7046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Accountant	Domestic Duties
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Wesley Church, Masterton
Folio	7045
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 August 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. Beckett, Methodist

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).