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 1719

District of Otaki Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar S. P. Eady

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

George Breeze
Dorothy Alice Broadbent

George Breeze
Dorothy Alice Broadbent
💍 1925/4791

Bachelor
Spinster

Platelayer
Housework

23
28

Otaki
Otaki

2 days
2 years

Methodist Church, Otaki

4620

6 April 1925

Rev. Liadell, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Breeze	Dorothy Alice Broadbent
	💍 1925/4791
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Platelayer	Housework
Age	23	28
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	2 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Otaki
Folio	4620
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Liadell, Methodist

6 April 1925

George Henry Davis
Rangi There Wallace

George Henry Davis
Rangi Where Wallace
💍 1925/4792

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Home Duties

23
15

Otaki
Otaki

4 days
15 years

Registrar Office, Otaki

4621

Mary Peni Wallace, mother

6 April 1925

S. P. Eady, Registrar, Otaki

No	7
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Davis	Rangi There Wallace
BDM Match (97%)	George Henry Davis	Rangi Where Wallace
	💍 1925/4792
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Home Duties
Age	23	15
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	4 days	15 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Otaki
Folio	4621
Consent	Mary Peni Wallace, mother
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	S. P. Eady, Registrar, Otaki

1 May 1925

William Watson
Maggie Mackintosh Jansen

William Watson
Maggie MacKintosh Jansen
💍 1925/4793

Widower
Widow

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

41
37

Paraparaumu
Paraparaumu

6 years
1 day

Registrar Office, Otaki

4622

1 May 1925

S. P. Eady, Registrar, Otaki

No	8
Date of Notice	1 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Watson	Maggie Mackintosh Jansen
BDM Match (98%)	William Watson	Maggie MacKintosh Jansen
	💍 1925/4793
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	41	37
Dwelling Place	Paraparaumu	Paraparaumu
Length of Residence	6 years	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Otaki
Folio	4622
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1925
Officiating Minister	S. P. Eady, Registrar, Otaki

20 May 1925

Hamilton Arthur Jumsden
May Isabella Hutchison Muir

Hamilton Arthur Lumsden
May Isabella McHutchison Muir
💍 1925/4794

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School Teacher

27
23

Te Horo
Te Horo

5 years
3 years

Church of England, Otaki

4623

20 May 1925

Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	20 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hamilton Arthur Jumsden	May Isabella Hutchison Muir
BDM Match (94%)	Hamilton Arthur Lumsden	May Isabella McHutchison Muir
	💍 1925/4794
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School Teacher
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Te Horo	Te Horo
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Otaki
Folio	4623
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England

1 June 1925

Stanley Gordon Waite
Beryl Webby

Stanley Gordon Watie
Beryl Webby
💍 1925/4795

Bachelor
Spinster

Electrician
Domestic

22
20

Otaki
Otaki

1 year
20 years

Church of England, Otaki

4624

Leonard George Webby, father

1 June 1925

Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	1 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Gordon Waite	Beryl Webby
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Gordon Watie	Beryl Webby
	💍 1925/4795
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electrician	Domestic
Age	22	20
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	1 year	20 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Otaki
Folio	4624
Consent	Leonard George Webby, father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. F. Petrie, Church of England

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).