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 1678

District of Masterton Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar A. G. Smith

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

5 February 1925

Clarence Wilfred Walker
Louisa Rose Clarke

Clarence Wilfred Walker
Louisa Rose Clarke
💍 1925/1382

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
Domestic Duties

32
24

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

1982

5 February 1925

Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	5 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clarence Wilfred Walker	Louisa Rose Clarke
	💍 1925/1382
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	Domestic Duties
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	1982
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

7 February 1925

Harold Wilfred Butcher
Maisie Evelyn Garratt

Harold Wilfred Butcher
Maisie Evelyn Garratt
💍 1925/1383

Bachelor
Spinster

Plumber
Domestic Duties

22
18

Masterton
Masterton

Residence of Bride, Te One One, Masterton

1983

William Henry Garratt (father)

7 February 1925

Rev. F. J. Handy, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	7 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Wilfred Butcher	Maisie Evelyn Garratt
	💍 1925/1383
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Residence of Bride, Te One One, Masterton
Folio	1983
Consent	William Henry Garratt (father)
Date of Certificate	7 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. J. Handy, Methodist

9 February 1925

Christian Herbert Schischka
Ada Hill

Christian Herbert Schischka
Ada Hill
💍 1925/1360

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

32
28

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

1984

9 February 1925

Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Christian Herbert Schischka	Ada Hill
	💍 1925/1360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	32	28
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	1984
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

9 February 1925

Eric Broadhurst Stokoe
Irene Hicks

Eric Broadhurst Stokoe
Irene Hicks
💍 1925/1361

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

27
22

Masterton
Masterton

Registrar's Office, Masterton

1985

9 February 1925

Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	9 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Broadhurst Stokoe	Irene Hicks
	💍 1925/1361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Masterton
Folio	1985
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1925
Officiating Minister	Mr. H. G. Smith, Registrar

12 February 1925

James Victor Sherborne
Gladys Myra Ray

James Victor Sherborne
Gladys Myra Ray
💍 1925/1362

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist
Domestic Duties

26
22

Masterton
Masterton

St. Matthew's Church, Masterton

1986

12 February 1925

Rev. Wm Bullock, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	12 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Victor Sherborne	Gladys Myra Ray
	💍 1925/1362
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist	Domestic Duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Masterton
Length of Residence
Marriage Place	St. Matthew's Church, Masterton
Folio	1986
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 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).