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 1717

District of Otaki Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar S. P. Eddy

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

7 January 1925

Clarence Moore
Myrtle Florence Doyle

Clarence Moore
Myrtle Florence Doyle
💍 1925/1427

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

24
22

Otaki
Otaki

3 days
1 day

Registrar's Office, Otaki

2003

7 January 1925

S. P. Eddy, Registrar, Otaki

No	1
Date of Notice	7 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Moore	Myrtle Florence Doyle
	💍 1925/1427
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	3 days	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Otaki
Folio	2003
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 January 1925
Officiating Minister	S. P. Eddy, Registrar, Otaki

26 January 1925

George Desmond Crabb
Camelia May Bishop

George Desmond Crabb
Camelia May Bishop
💍 1925/1428

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Spinster

22
23

Johnsonville
Otaki

4 months
2 years

Methodist Church, Otaki

2004

26 January 1925

Rev. R. P. Keall, Methodist, Otaki

No	2
Date of Notice	26 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Desmond Crabb	Camelia May Bishop
	💍 1925/1428
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Spinster
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Johnsonville	Otaki
Length of Residence	4 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Otaki
Folio	2004
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. P. Keall, Methodist, Otaki

3 February 1925

Basil John Bird
Francis Huia Josephine Noble

Basil John Bird
Frances Huia Josephine Noble
💍 1925/1429

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman
Domestic Duties

24
21

Wellington
Otaki

6 years
21 years

Church of England, Native Church, Otaki

2005

3 February 1925

Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England, Otaki

No	3
Date of Notice	3 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil John Bird	Francis Huia Josephine Noble
BDM Match (98%)	Basil John Bird	Frances Huia Josephine Noble
	💍 1925/1429
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Otaki
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Native Church, Otaki
Folio	2005
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England, Otaki

7 February 1925

Alfred Cyril Davis
Irma Mildred Kells

Alfred Cyril Davis
Irma Mildred Field
💍 1925/1430

Bachelor
Spinster

Police Constable
Nurse

24
30

New Plymouth
Paraparaumu

2 months
3 weeks

Church of England, Paraparaumu

2006

7 February 1925

Rev. Jones, Paraparaumu

No	4
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Cyril Davis	Irma Mildred Kells
BDM Match (89%)	Alfred Cyril Davis	Irma Mildred Field
	💍 1925/1430
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Nurse
Age	24	30
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Paraparaumu
Length of Residence	2 months	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Paraparaumu
Folio	2006
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jones, Paraparaumu

2 March 1925

Michael Holland
Ellen Winifred Jenkins

Michael Holland
Ellen Winifred Jenkins
💍 1925/1431

Bachelor
Spinster

Stationer
Housemaid

24
21

Otaki
Otaki

3 days
21 years

Monture Hospital, Otaki

2007

2 March 1925

Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England, Otaki

No	5
Date of Notice	2 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael Holland	Ellen Winifred Jenkins
	💍 1925/1431
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stationer	Housemaid
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	Monture Hospital, Otaki
Folio	2007
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England, Otaki

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).