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 1420

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar W. 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

7 March 1925

Silvio Truda
Ruby Mathilde Cane

Silvie Truda
Ruby Mathilde Cane
💍 1925/1299

Bachelor
Spinster

Music Teacher
Music Teacher

40
24

Napier
Napier

16 years
25 years

Registrar's Office, Napier

1900

7 March 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	36
Date of Notice	7 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Silvio Truda	Ruby Mathilde Cane
BDM Match (96%)	Silvie Truda	Ruby Mathilde Cane
	💍 1925/1299
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Music Teacher	Music Teacher
Age	40	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1900
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 March 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

9 March 1925

Stanley Frederick Howard
Helen Pell

Stanley Frederick Howard
Helen Pell
💍 1925/1300

Divorced (Decree absolute 24 September 1920)
Spinster

Garage Foreman
Tailoress

31
24

Napier
Greenmeadows

6 months
3 years

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

1901

9 March 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	37
Date of Notice	9 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Frederick Howard	Helen Pell
	💍 1925/1300
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 24 September 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Garage Foreman	Tailoress
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Napier	Greenmeadows
Length of Residence	6 months	3 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	1901
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

11 March 1925

Horace William Kirkham
Thelma Eudora Watson

Horace William Kirkham
Thelma Eudora Watson
💍 1925/1301

Bachelor
Spinster

Stock Agent
Clerk

23
21

Awatoto
Napier

23 years
21 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1902

11 March 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	38
Date of Notice	11 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace William Kirkham	Thelma Eudora Watson
	💍 1925/1301
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Stock Agent	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Awatoto	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1902
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 March 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, Church of England

14 March 1925

Harold William Groome
Flora Macdonald Lavery

Harold William Groome
Flora MacDonald Lavery
💍 1925/1302

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

25
24

Fernhill, Westshore
Westshore

3 weeks
3 years

St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri

1903

14 March 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	39
Date of Notice	14 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold William Groome	Flora Macdonald Lavery
BDM Match (98%)	Harold William Groome	Flora MacDonald Lavery
	💍 1925/1302
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Fernhill, Westshore	Westshore
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1903
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 March 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Church of England

17 March 1925

Albert Allan Stewart
Evelyn Hamilton Taylor

Albert Allan Stewart
Evelyn Hamilton Taylor
💍 1925/1310

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic Duties

25
26

Westshore
Clive

24 years
26 years

St. Marks Church, Clive

1904

17 March 1925

J. W. Chapman, Church of England

No	40
Date of Notice	17 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Allan Stewart	Evelyn Hamilton Taylor
	💍 1925/1310
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Westshore	Clive
Length of Residence	24 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. Marks Church, Clive
Folio	1904
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 March 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. Chapman, 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).