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 1448

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar H. Buchanan

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

167

24 December 1925

John Smith Goudie
Emily Herd

John Smith Goudie
Emily Herd
💍 1925/10094

Widower
Widow

Master Mariner retired
Domestic Duties

77
77

Napier
Napier

28 years
20 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

9726

24 December 1925

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	167
Date of Notice	24 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Smith Goudie	Emily Herd
	💍 1925/10094
Condition	Widower	Widow
Profession	Master Mariner retired	Domestic Duties
Age	77	77
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	28 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	9726
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, Registrar

168

24 December 1925

Walter Edwin Bate
Annie Louise Jordan

Walter Edwin Bate
Annie Louise Jordan
💍 1925/10102

Bachelor
Spinster

Barrister & Solicitor
Teacher

24
25

Taumarunui
Napier

3 years
4 years

Methodist Church, Napier

9727

24 December 1925

J. R. Richards, Methodist

No	168
Date of Notice	24 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Edwin Bate	Annie Louise Jordan
	💍 1925/10102
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barrister & Solicitor	Teacher
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Napier
Folio	9727
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 December 1925
Officiating Minister	J. R. Richards, Methodist

169

29 December 1925

John Ernest Connor
Ellen Sherman

John Ernest Connor
Ellen Sherman
💍 1925/10113

Bachelor
Widow

Motor Driver
Domestic Duties

42
45

Napier
Napier

4 days
4 days

Residence of H. Mackenzie, Bower Street, Napier

9728

29 December 1925

H. Mackenzie, Salvation Army

No	169
Date of Notice	29 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Connor	Ellen Sherman
	💍 1925/10113
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Motor Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	42	45
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Residence of H. Mackenzie, Bower Street, Napier
Folio	9728
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 December 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Mackenzie, Salvation Army

170

30 December 1925

Henry Oulton
Charlotte Ford Smythe

Henry Oulton
Charlotte Ford Smythe
💍 1925/10120

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Housekeeper

45
43

Port Ahuriri
Napier

30 years
43 years

Residence of Ms. Mckay, 106 Carlyle Street, Napier

9729

30 December 1925

C. Matear, Presbyterian

No	170
Date of Notice	30 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Oulton	Charlotte Ford Smythe
	💍 1925/10120
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Housekeeper
Age	45	43
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Napier
Length of Residence	30 years	43 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Ms. Mckay, 106 Carlyle Street, Napier
Folio	9729
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1925
Officiating Minister	C. Matear, Presbyterian

171

30 December 1925

Herbert James Fitzsimmons
Hannah Williams

Herbert James Fitzsimmons
Hannah Williams
💍 1925/10121

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

36
33

Clive
Clive

7 days
8 days

Registrar's Office, Napier

9730

30 December 1925

H. Buchanan, Registrar

No	171
Date of Notice	30 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert James Fitzsimmons	Hannah Williams
	💍 1925/10121
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	36	33
Dwelling Place	Clive	Clive
Length of Residence	7 days	8 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	9730
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1925
Officiating Minister	H. Buchanan, 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).