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 1757

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

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 June 1925

Roy Clayton Boulton
Edna Merrell Spay

Roy Clayton Boulton
Edna Merrell Spry
💍 1925/4907

Divorced absolute 10 December 1924
Spinster

Linotype Operator

25
26

New Plymouth
Rangitane

25 years
3 weeks

Methodist Church, Longburn

4688

6 June 1925

Rev. J. Featherston, Methodist

No	97
Date of Notice	6 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Clayton Boulton	Edna Merrell Spay
BDM Match (97%)	Roy Clayton Boulton	Edna Merrell Spry
	💍 1925/4907
Condition	Divorced absolute 10 December 1924	Spinster
Profession	Linotype Operator
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Rangitane
Length of Residence	25 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Longburn
Folio	4688
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Featherston, Methodist

9 June 1925

Norman Bowen
Nina Charlotte Pearce

Norman Chowen
Nina Charlotte Pearce
💍 1925/4908

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
26

Aokautere
Colyton

6 years
26 years

Methodist Church, Colyton

4689

9 June 1925

Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

No	98
Date of Notice	9 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Bowen	Nina Charlotte Pearce
BDM Match (92%)	Norman Chowen	Nina Charlotte Pearce
	💍 1925/4908
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Aokautere	Colyton
Length of Residence	6 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Colyton
Folio	4689
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell, Methodist

11 June 1925

John Jeremiah Patrick Mary Magdalene Lynch
Ellen Constance Bowe

John Jeremiah Patrick Mary Magdalene Lynch
Ellen Constance Bowe
💍 1925/4909

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

30
22

Linton
Foxton

6 years
Life

St. Marys Church, Foxton

4690

11 June 1925

Rev. T. McDermott, Roman Catholic

No	99
Date of Notice	11 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Jeremiah Patrick Mary Magdalene Lynch	Ellen Constance Bowe
	💍 1925/4909
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	Linton	Foxton
Length of Residence	6 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Marys Church, Foxton
Folio	4690
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. McDermott, Roman Catholic

100

16 June 1925

Charles Edward Newton
Margaret Laura Cook

Charles Edward Newton
Margaret Laura Cook
💍 1925/4910

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

41
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 day
3 days

St. Peters Church, Palmerston North

4691

16 June 1925

Rev. J. C. Abbott, Anglican

No	100
Date of Notice	16 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Edward Newton	Margaret Laura Cook
	💍 1925/4910
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	41	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 day	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peters Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4691
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Abbott, Anglican

101

16 June 1925

Percy Newman Wood
Margaret Laurie Scott

Percy Newman Wood
Margaret Laurie Scott
💍 1925/4911

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
24

Bunnythorpe
Palmerston North

14 years
17 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

4692

16 June 1925

Rev. A. J. Peat, Methodist

No	101
Date of Notice	16 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Newman Wood	Margaret Laurie Scott
	💍 1925/4911
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Bunnythorpe	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	14 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4692
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. 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).