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 1753

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. G. A. [illegible]

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

8 May 1925

James Park Lamie
Lilian Ada Messenger

James Park Laurie
Lilian Ada Messenger
💍 1925/4168

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer

25
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 months
6 years

St. Andrews Church

4668

8 May 1925

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	77
Date of Notice	8 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Park Lamie	Lilian Ada Messenger
BDM Match (94%)	James Park Laurie	Lilian Ada Messenger
	💍 1925/4168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 months	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	4668
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

9 May 1925

Alfred James Andrews
Elsie Elizabeth Maria Sinclair

Alfred James Andrews
Elsie Elizabeth Maria Sinclair
💍 1925/4169

Widower (5 December 1918)
Widow (30 December 1920)

Cabinet maker

42
34

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
6 years

St. Pauls parsonage

4669

9 May 1925

Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

No	78
Date of Notice	9 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred James Andrews	Elsie Elizabeth Maria Sinclair
	💍 1925/4169
Condition	Widower (5 December 1918)	Widow (30 December 1920)
Profession	Cabinet maker
Age	42	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls parsonage
Folio	4669
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

13 May 1925

William Charles Giles
Christine Eleonora Hansen

William Charles Giles
Christine Eleonora Hansen
💍 1925/4170

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Makowhai
Palmerston North

18 years
3 days

Danish Lutheran Church

4670

13 May 1925

Rev. W. Christensen, Lutheran

No	79
Date of Notice	13 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Charles Giles	Christine Eleonora Hansen
	💍 1925/4170
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Makowhai	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	18 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Danish Lutheran Church
Folio	4670
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. Christensen, Lutheran

13 May 1925

Edward Dorset Tucker
Ruth Eileen Leveridge

Edward Dorset Tucker
Ruth Eileen Leveridge
💍 1925/4171

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Salesman

23
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

23 years
4 1/2 years

St. Peters Church

4671

13 May 1925

Rev. J. G. Abbott, Anglican

No	80
Date of Notice	13 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Dorset Tucker	Ruth Eileen Leveridge
	💍 1925/4171
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Salesman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	23 years	4 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church
Folio	4671
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Abbott, Anglican

13 May 1925

Edward Jabey Teel
Amy Gladys Richardson

Edward Jabez Seel
Amy Gladys Richardson
💍 1925/4172

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

27
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

11 years
life

Cuba Street Methodist Church

4672

13 May 1925

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	81
Date of Notice	13 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Jabey Teel	Amy Gladys Richardson
BDM Match (94%)	Edward Jabez Seel	Amy Gladys Richardson
	💍 1925/4172
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	11 years	life
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church
Folio	4672
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, 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).