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 1736

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 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

12 January 1925

David Woods
Edith Ellen Collis

David Woods
Edith Ellen Collis
💍 1925/1416

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

28
18

Pohangina
Linton

6 weeks
13 years

Registrar's office, Palmerston North

2016

Arthur John Collis, father

12 January 1925

Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Woods	Edith Ellen Collis
	💍 1925/1416
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	28	18
Dwelling Place	Pohangina	Linton
Length of Residence	6 weeks	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Palmerston North
Folio	2016
Consent	Arthur John Collis, father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

12 January 1925

Colin Melville McNaught
Evelyn Joyce Robbie

Colin Melville McNaught
Evelyn Joyce Robbie
💍 1925/1418

Bachelor
Spinster

Salesman

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 day
4 years

St. Patricks church, Palmerston North

2017

Francis Robbie, father

12 January 1925

Rev. J. F. Macmanus, Roman Catholic

No	7
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Melville McNaught	Evelyn Joyce Robbie
	💍 1925/1418
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Salesman
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 day	4 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks church, Palmerston North
Folio	2017
Consent	Francis Robbie, father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Macmanus, Roman Catholic

14 January 1925

James David Harris
Janet Ludlow

James David Harris
Janet Ludlow
💍 1925/1419

Widower
Spinster

Post and Telegraph Dept. lineman

34
34

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 months
5 days

Registrar's office, Palmerston North

2018

14 January 1925

Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James David Harris	Janet Ludlow
	💍 1925/1419
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Post and Telegraph Dept. lineman
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	5 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's office, Palmerston North
Folio	2018
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Registrar

15 January 1925

John Henry Winter
Mary Aileen Scully

John Henry Winter
Mary Aileen Scully
💍 1925/1421

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
School teacher

30
33

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

14 days
1 month

All Saints church, Palmerston North

2019

15 January 1925

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	9
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Winter	Mary Aileen Scully
	💍 1925/1421
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	School teacher
Age	30	33
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	14 days	1 month
Marriage Place	All Saints church, Palmerston North
Folio	2019
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

19 January 1925

David Perry
Alice Harriett Hodgins

David Perry
Alice Harriett Hodgins
💍 1925/1422

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor

28
27

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 days
Life

St. Patricks church, Palmerston North

2020

19 January 1925

Rev. J. F. Macmanus, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	19 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Perry	Alice Harriett Hodgins
	💍 1925/1422
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor
Age	28	27
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 days	Life
Marriage Place	St. Patricks church, Palmerston North
Folio	2020
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. Macmanus, Roman Catholic

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).