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 1728

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar J. H. Dashwood

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

20 May 1925

Arthur Edward Bird
Nell Lilian Rosalind Barr

Arthur Edward Bird
Nell Lilian Rosalind Carr
💍 1925/5044

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic

26
26

Pahiatua
Waipukurau

8 months
3 days

Presbyterian Church

4631

20 May 1925

Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	20 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Edward Bird	Nell Lilian Rosalind Barr
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Edward Bird	Nell Lilian Rosalind Carr
	💍 1925/5044
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Waipukurau
Length of Residence	8 months	3 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	4631
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

27 May 1925

Joseph Stevenson
Constance Jessie Walkley

Joseph Stevenson
Constance Jessie Walkley
💍 1925/5045

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

20
23

Pahiatua
Levin

18 years
6 months

Presbyterian Church

4632

Alexander Stevenson, father

27 May 1925

Rev. A. Bawden Harris, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Stevenson	Constance Jessie Walkley
	💍 1925/5045
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	20	23
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Levin
Length of Residence	18 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	4632
Consent	Alexander Stevenson, father
Date of Certificate	27 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Bawden Harris, Presbyterian

29 May 1925

Archibald Campbell Buchanan
Vida May Lowry

Archibald Campbell Buchanan
Vida May Dowry
💍 1925/5046

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
24

Nikau, Pahiatua
Nikau, Pahiatua

18 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church

4633

29 May 1925

Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

No	11
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Campbell Buchanan	Vida May Lowry
BDM Match (96%)	Archibald Campbell Buchanan	Vida May Dowry
	💍 1925/5046
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Nikau, Pahiatua	Nikau, Pahiatua
Length of Residence	18 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	4633
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

29 May 1925

George Purvis
Doris Emily McArdle

George Purvis
Doris Emily McCardle
💍 1925/5024

Bachelor
Spinster

Factory Manager
Teacher

26
26

Mauriceville
Mangamutu

18 months
26 years

House of James McArdle

4634

29 May 1925

Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	29 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Purvis	Doris Emily McArdle
BDM Match (95%)	George Purvis	Doris Emily McCardle
	💍 1925/5024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Factory Manager	Teacher
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Mauriceville	Mangamutu
Length of Residence	18 months	26 years
Marriage Place	House of James McArdle
Folio	4634
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Welsh, Presbyterian

8 June 1925

Sylvanus Avery
Christina Emily Maud Sofoles

Sylvanus Avery
Christina Emily Maud Gowler
💍 1925/5025

Bachelor
Spinster

Canvaser
Domestic

26
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

4 years
4 years

Registrar's Office

4635

William Henry Bowler, father

12 June 1925

J. H. Dashwood, Registrar

No	13
Date of Notice	8 June 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sylvanus Avery	Christina Emily Maud Sofoles
BDM Match (93%)	Sylvanus Avery	Christina Emily Maud Gowler
	💍 1925/5025
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Canvaser	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	4 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office
Folio	4635
Consent	William Henry Bowler, father
Date of Certificate	12 June 1925
Officiating Minister	J. H. Dashwood, Registrar

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).