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 1684

District of Masterton Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar W. [illegible]

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

16 April 1925

William Joseph McEldowney
Ida Evelyn Daniell

William Joseph McEldowney
Ida Evelyn Daniell
💍 1925/4836

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic Duties

36
35

Wellington
Masterton

Residence of Bride, Albert Street, Masterton

4593

16 April 1925

Rev. Wm Beckett, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	16 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Joseph McEldowney	Ida Evelyn Daniell
	💍 1925/4836
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic Duties
Age	36	35
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, Albert Street, Masterton
Folio	4593
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Beckett, Methodist

16 April 1925

John Charles Wellington
Agnes Grace Hawke

John Charles Wellington
Agnes Grace Hawke
💍 1925/4837

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

26
24

Masterton
Masterton

Methodist Church, Masterton

4594

16 April 1925

Rev. Wm Beckett, Methodist

No	30
Date of Notice	16 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Wellington	Agnes Grace Hawke
	💍 1925/4837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Masterton
Folio	4594
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Beckett, Methodist

14 April 1925

Thomas Leonard Lancaster
Agnes Anne Atkinson

Thomas Leonard Lancaster
Agnes Anne Atkinson
💍 1925/4841

Bachelor
Spinster

University Lecturer
School Teacher

36
34

Auckland
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

4595

14 April 1925

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	31
Date of Notice	14 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Leonard Lancaster	Agnes Anne Atkinson
	💍 1925/4841
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	University Lecturer	School Teacher
Age	36	34
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	4595
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

20 April 1925

Bert Cyril Page
Dorothy Margaret Andrew

Bert Cyril Page
Dorothy Margaret Andrew
💍 1925/4839

Bachelor
Spinster

Cordial Manufacturer
Domestic Duties

31
22

Masterton
Masterton

Registrar's Office, Masterton

4596

20 April 1925

Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

No	32
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bert Cyril Page	Dorothy Margaret Andrew
	💍 1925/4839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cordial Manufacturer	Domestic Duties
Age	31	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	4596
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

20 April 1925

William Maxwell
Victoria Maud Macmahon

William Maxwell
Victoria Maud MacMahon
💍 1925/4840

Bachelor
Widow (22/11/1918)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

30
32

Eketahuna
Masterton

Church of England, Masterton

4597

20 April 1925

Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

No	33
Date of Notice	20 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Maxwell	Victoria Maud Macmahon
BDM Match (98%)	William Maxwell	Victoria Maud MacMahon
	💍 1925/4840
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (22/11/1918)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	30	32
Dwelling Place	Eketahuna	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Church of England, Masterton
Folio	4597
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

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).