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 1759

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar Not specified

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

107

23 June 1925

John Frederick Cabot
Clementina Ella Gertrude Ina Cornwall

John Fredrick Cabot
Clementina Ella Gertrude Ina Cornwall
💍 1925/4918

Divorced Decree absolute 17 June 1925
Spinster

Book

31
20

Mangaore
Palmerston North

3 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

4698

Under Sec 27

7 July 1925

Registrar

No	107
Date of Notice	23 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Frederick Cabot	Clementina Ella Gertrude Ina Cornwall
BDM Match (98%)	John Fredrick Cabot	Clementina Ella Gertrude Ina Cornwall
	💍 1925/4918
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 17 June 1925	Spinster
Profession	Book
Age	31	20
Dwelling Place	Mangaore	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	4698
Consent	Under Sec 27
Date of Certificate	7 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

108

23 June 1925

Jack McDonald
Ivy May Paton

Jack McDonald
Ivy May Paton
💍 1925/4876

Bachelor
Widow (May 1920)

Clerk

26
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
4 days

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

4699

23 June 1925

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	108
Date of Notice	23 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack McDonald	Ivy May Paton
	💍 1925/4876
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (May 1920)
Profession	Clerk
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4699
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

109

24 June 1925

John McDonald
Isabella Hannah Prince

John McDonald
Isabella Hannah Prince
💍 1925/4887

Widower (August 1896)
Spinster

Motor Driver

60
46

Marton
Palmerston North

37 years
3 days

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

4700

24 June 1925

Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

No	109
Date of Notice	24 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McDonald	Isabella Hannah Prince
	💍 1925/4887
Condition	Widower (August 1896)	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	60	46
Dwelling Place	Marton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	37 years	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4700
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. J. Brown, Presbyterian

110

25 June 1925

William Thomas John Finlay
Mary Barrie Whittaker

William Thomas John Finlay
Mary Carrie Whittaker
💍 1925/4894

Bachelor
Spinster

Tile maker

23
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 years
1 year

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

4701

25 June 1925

Registrar

No	110
Date of Notice	25 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas John Finlay	Mary Barrie Whittaker
BDM Match (98%)	William Thomas John Finlay	Mary Carrie Whittaker
	💍 1925/4894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tile maker
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	4701
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

111

26 June 1925

Hurdos Morrison MacDonald
Hilda Elizabeth Boss

Murdo Morrison MacDonald
Hilda Elizabeth Voss
💍 1925/4895

Bachelor
Spinster

Meat Grader

33
27

Richmond
Ravere

6 months
Life

Lutheran Church, Palmerston North

4702

26 June 1925

Rev. H. Christensen, Lutheran

No	111
Date of Notice	26 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hurdos Morrison MacDonald	Hilda Elizabeth Boss
BDM Match (94%)	Murdo Morrison MacDonald	Hilda Elizabeth Voss
	💍 1925/4895
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Meat Grader
Age	33	27
Dwelling Place	Richmond	Ravere
Length of Residence	6 months	Life
Marriage Place	Lutheran Church, Palmerston North
Folio	4702
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 June 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Christensen, Lutheran

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).