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 1418

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

10 February 1925

William Henry Fredricks
Molly Irlene Hooper

William Henry Fredericks
Molly Irlene Hooper
💍 1925/1288

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

22
21

Port Ahuriri
Port Ahuriri

22 years
4 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

1890

10 February 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	26
Date of Notice	10 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Fredricks	Molly Irlene Hooper
BDM Match (98%)	William Henry Fredericks	Molly Irlene Hooper
	💍 1925/1288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Port Ahuriri	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	22 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	1890
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

17 February 1925

George Lennox Filmer
Edna May Griffiths

George Lennox Filmer
Edna May Griffiths
💍 1925/1289

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

21
17

Napier
Napier

8 years
6 months

Residence of Rev. B. Metson, Napier

1891

George Herbert Griffiths, Father

17 February 1925

B. Metson, Methodist

No	27
Date of Notice	17 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Lennox Filmer	Edna May Griffiths
	💍 1925/1289
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	21	17
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	8 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. B. Metson, Napier
Folio	1891
Consent	George Herbert Griffiths, Father
Date of Certificate	17 February 1925
Officiating Minister	B. Metson, Methodist

14 February 1925

William Young Gordon
Jean Kinloch Whyte

William Young Gordon
Jean Kinloch Whyte
💍 1925/1290

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Cook

24
29

Napier
Napier

4 years
19 months

Residence of Rev. D. Gardner Miller, Napier

1892

14 February 1925

D. Gardner Miller, Congregational

No	28
Date of Notice	14 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Young Gordon	Jean Kinloch Whyte
	💍 1925/1290
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Cook
Age	24	29
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	4 years	19 months
Marriage Place	Residence of Rev. D. Gardner Miller, Napier
Folio	1892
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 February 1925
Officiating Minister	D. Gardner Miller, Congregational

18 February 1925

Francis Charles Walker
Helen Theodora Sparwath

Francis Charles Walker
Helen Theodora Sparwath
💍 1925/1291

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Car Painter
Domestic

19
18

Napier
Napier

16 years
9 years

St. Paul's Church, Napier

1893

Isabella Jane Walker, Mother; Walter Sparwath, Father

18 February 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	29
Date of Notice	18 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Charles Walker	Helen Theodora Sparwath
	💍 1925/1291
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Car Painter	Domestic
Age	19	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	16 years	9 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church, Napier
Folio	1893
Consent	Isabella Jane Walker, Mother; Walter Sparwath, Father
Date of Certificate	18 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

19 February 1925

William George Bobs Reading
Eva Eileen Mitchell

William George Bobs Reading
Eva Eileen Mitchell
💍 1925/1292

Bachelor
Spinster

Insurance Agent
Domestic

24
22

Napier
Napier

24 years
1 year

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

1894

19 February 1925

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	30
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William George Bobs Reading	Eva Eileen Mitchell
	💍 1925/1292
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Insurance Agent	Domestic
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	24 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	1894
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, 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).