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 1755

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar E. P. 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

22 May 1925

Sydney Gillard Randell
Mary McLachlan Reaburn

Sydney Gillard Randell
Mary McLachlan Reaburn
💍 1925/4922

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller

25
23

Auckland
Palmerston North

15 months
22 years

St. Davids Church

4679

22 May 1925

Rev. J. N. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	22 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney Gillard Randell	Mary McLachlan Reaburn
	💍 1925/4922
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Davids Church
Folio	4679
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. N. Bredin, Presbyterian

20 May 1925

Sidney Joseph Young Watson
Ella Elizabeth Barker

Sidney Joseph Young Watson
Ella Elizabeth Carter
💍 1925/4921

Widower
Spinster

Printer
Nurse

59
43

Palmerston North
311 Featherston Street, Palmerston North

39 years
6 years

Residence of S. Barker

4678

20 May 1925

Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	20 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney Joseph Young Watson	Ella Elizabeth Barker
BDM Match (95%)	Sidney Joseph Young Watson	Ella Elizabeth Carter
	💍 1925/4921
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Printer	Nurse
Age	59	43
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	311 Featherston Street, Palmerston North
Length of Residence	39 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of S. Barker
Folio	4678
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., Presbyterian

23 May 1925

Hulton Eric Wood
Thelma Gwendoline Whitehead

Milton Eric Wood
Thelma Gwendoline Whitehead
💍 1925/4923

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

24
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

Life
Life

St. Andrews Church

4680

23 May 1925

Rev. F. McDonald, Presbyterian

No	89
Date of Notice	23 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hulton Eric Wood	Thelma Gwendoline Whitehead
BDM Match (94%)	Milton Eric Wood	Thelma Gwendoline Whitehead
	💍 1925/4923
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	4680
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. McDonald, Presbyterian

25 May 1925

Percival Coley
Mary Goldfinch

Percival Coley
Mary Goldfinch
💍 1925/4924

Bachelor
Spinster

Electric linesman

31
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 months
Life

St. Andrews Church

4681

25 May 1925

Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	25 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percival Coley	Mary Goldfinch
	💍 1925/4924
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Electric linesman
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 months	Life
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	4681
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., Presbyterian

26 May 1925

Alfred Henry Strawbridge
Ethel Lewis

Alfred Henry Strawbridge
Ethel Lewis
💍 1925/4925

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm manager

24
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

15 years
18 years

St. Andrews Church

4682

26 May 1925

Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., Presbyterian

No	91
Date of Notice	26 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Henry Strawbridge	Ethel Lewis
	💍 1925/4925
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm manager
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	15 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church
Folio	4682
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., 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).