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 1782

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar E. H. Bailey

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

218

22 December 1925

Leonard Maitland Cook
Grace Elaine Morrison

Leonard Maitford Cook
Grace Elaine Morrison
💍 1925/10180

Bachelor
Spinster

Flax Mill Employee

20
17

Foxton
Palmerston North

3 years
2 months

Luba Street Methodist church, Palmerston North

9888

Isabella Davies, Guardian; Samuel Morrison, Father

22 December 1925

Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

No	218
Date of Notice	22 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Maitland Cook	Grace Elaine Morrison
BDM Match (93%)	Leonard Maitford Cook	Grace Elaine Morrison
	💍 1925/10180
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Flax Mill Employee
Age	20	17
Dwelling Place	Foxton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Luba Street Methodist church, Palmerston North
Folio	9888
Consent	Isabella Davies, Guardian; Samuel Morrison, Father
Date of Certificate	22 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. J. Peat, Methodist

219

23 December 1925

Charles Manders Woodham
Gladys Eveline Ottaway

Charles Manders Woodham
Gladys Eveline Ottaway
💍 1925/10181

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

25
23

Wellington
Palmerston North

2 years
3 days

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

9889

23 December 1925

Rev. Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	219
Date of Notice	23 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Manders Woodham	Gladys Eveline Ottaway
	💍 1925/10181
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	3 days
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9889
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

220

23 December 1925

Cuthbert Harry Clifford
Helen Ruth Burlace

Cuthbert Harry Clifford
Helen Ruth Burlace
💍 1925/10182

Bachelor
Spinster

Wood and Coal Dealer

44
18

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 months
1 day

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

9890

H. H. Ostler, Judge

23 December 1925

Deputy Registrar

No	220
Date of Notice	23 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cuthbert Harry Clifford	Helen Ruth Burlace
	💍 1925/10182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wood and Coal Dealer
Age	44	18
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 months	1 day
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	9890
Consent	H. H. Ostler, Judge
Date of Certificate	23 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Deputy Registrar

221

24 December 1925

Thomas Christian Soensen
May Stanhope Robbie

Thomas Christian Sorensen
May Stanhope Robbie
💍 1925/10183

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
6 years

St Andrews Church, Palmerston North

9891

24 December 1925

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	221
Date of Notice	24 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Christian Soensen	May Stanhope Robbie
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Christian Sorensen	May Stanhope Robbie
	💍 1925/10183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9891
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

222

29 December 1925

James Edgar
Elizabeth Bell

James Edgar
Elizabeth Bell
💍 1925/10184

Widower (20 January 1924)
Widow (2 February 1924)

Blacksmith

45
31

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

9 years
27 years

St Peters Church, Palmerston North

9892

29 December 1925

Rev. J. G. Abbott, Anglican

No	222
Date of Notice	29 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Edgar	Elizabeth Bell
	💍 1925/10184
Condition	Widower (20 January 1924)	Widow (2 February 1924)
Profession	Blacksmith
Age	45	31
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	9 years	27 years
Marriage Place	St Peters Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9892
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Abbott, Anglican

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).