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 1778

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

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

198

21 November 1925

Robert Raymond Bycroft
Lila Emily Edwards

Robert Raymond Bycroft
Lila Emily Edwards
💍 1925/624

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

44
34

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
17 years

Residence of J. H. Edwards, 13 Book Street, Palmerston North

9869

21 November 1925

Rev. A. A. Murray, United Evangelical Church

No	198
Date of Notice	21 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Raymond Bycroft	Lila Emily Edwards
	💍 1925/624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	44	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. H. Edwards, 13 Book Street, Palmerston North
Folio	9869
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. A. Murray, United Evangelical Church

199

23 November 1925

Hector McDonald Thomson
Daphne Ethel May Levy

Hector McDonald Thomson
Daphne Ethel May Levy
💍 1925/625

Bachelor
Spinster

Manager

23
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 days
4 days

Residence of Mr. A. Levy, 39 King Street, Palmerston North

9870

23 November 1925

Rev. G. P. Brown, Presbyterian

No	199
Date of Notice	23 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hector McDonald Thomson	Daphne Ethel May Levy
	💍 1925/625
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Manager
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. A. Levy, 39 King Street, Palmerston North
Folio	9870
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Brown, Presbyterian

200

23 November 1925

Frederick Mawhinney
Elsie Thirza Dalton

Frederick Mawhinney
Elsie Thirza Dalton
💍 1925/627

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman

27
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
21 years

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

9871

23 November 1925

Rev. G. P. Brown, Presbyterian

No	200
Date of Notice	23 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Mawhinney	Elsie Thirza Dalton
	💍 1925/627
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9871
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. P. Brown, Presbyterian

201

25 November 1925

Thomas McKenzie Pacey
Elizabeth Laurenson

Thomas McKenzie Pacey
Elizabeth Lawrenson
💍 1925/628

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

23
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
23 years

St. Pauls Church, Palmerston North

9872

25 November 1925

Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

No	201
Date of Notice	25 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas McKenzie Pacey	Elizabeth Laurenson
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas McKenzie Pacey	Elizabeth Lawrenson
	💍 1925/628
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9872
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

202

27 November 1925

Albert Walker Findlay
Caroline Mary Wallace

Albert Walker Findlay
Caroline Mary Wallace
💍 1925/629

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraph Linesman
Nurse

38
43

Palmerston North
Invercargill

3 days
4 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

9873

27 November 1925

Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	202
Date of Notice	27 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Walker Findlay	Caroline Mary Wallace
	💍 1925/629
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraph Linesman	Nurse
Age	38	43
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	9873
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Canon W. Fancourt, 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).