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 1680

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Alf. [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

3 March 1925

Charles King
Ella Lydia King

Charles King
Ella Lydia King
💍 1925/1368

Bachelor
Widow

Plasterer
Domestic Duties

32
34

Masterton
Masterton

Registrar's Office, Masterton

1992

3 March 1925

Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	3 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles King	Ella Lydia King
	💍 1925/1368
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Plasterer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	1992
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

9 March 1925

James Francis Liddall
Elizabeth Victoria Brown

James Francis Liddall
Elizabeth Victoria Brown
💍 1925/1369

Bachelor
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

23
23

Masterton
Masterton

Church of England, Masterton

1993

9 March 1925

Mr. Wm. Bullock, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Francis Liddall	Elizabeth Victoria Brown
	💍 1925/1369
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Church of England, Masterton
Folio	1993
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. Wm. Bullock, Church of England

10 March 1925

Thomas Henry Nivian Lawry
Nellie Walker Harper

Thomas Henry Vivian Lawry
Nellie Walker Harper
💍 1925/1371

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Clerk
Domestic Duties

29
20

Wellington
Masterton

Methodist Church, Masterton

1994

Edward Walker Harper (father)

10 March 1925

Rev. A. B. Lawry, Methodist

No	18
Date of Notice	10 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Nivian Lawry	Nellie Walker Harper
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Henry Vivian Lawry	Nellie Walker Harper
	💍 1925/1371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Masterton
Folio	1994
Consent	Edward Walker Harper (father)
Date of Certificate	10 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Lawry, Methodist

12 March 1925

Leonard John Matthews
Ellen Jesie Colquhoun

Leonard John Matthews
Ellen Jessie Colquhoun
💍 1925/1372

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

34
35

Masterton
Masterton

Knox Church, Masterton

1995

12 March 1925

Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	12 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Matthews	Ellen Jesie Colquhoun
BDM Match (98%)	Leonard John Matthews	Ellen Jessie Colquhoun
	💍 1925/1372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	34	35
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Knox Church, Masterton
Folio	1995
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Davie, Presbyterian

26 March 1925

Eric Malcolm Hodder
Brittania Marjorie Burnell Daniell

Eric Malcolm Hodder
Brittania Marjorie Purnell Daniell
💍 1925/1373

Bachelor
Spinster

Merchant
Domestic Duties

24
24

Masterton
Masterton

Methodist Church, Masterton

1996

26 March 1925

Rev. Wm. Beckett, Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	26 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Malcolm Hodder	Brittania Marjorie Burnell Daniell
BDM Match (99%)	Eric Malcolm Hodder	Brittania Marjorie Purnell Daniell
	💍 1925/1373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Merchant	Domestic Duties
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Masterton
Folio	1996
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm. Beckett, Methodist

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).