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 1416

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 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

20 January 1925

Nelson Stedman
Georgina Bruce Rice

Nelson Stedman
Georgina Bruce Rice
💍 1925/1296

Widower
Spinster

Photographer
Domestic Duties

43
37

Napier
Auckland

1 week
8 years

Baptist Church, Napier

1880

20 January 1925

J. K. Archer, Baptist

No	16
Date of Notice	20 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Nelson Stedman	Georgina Bruce Rice
	💍 1925/1296
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Photographer	Domestic Duties
Age	43	37
Dwelling Place	Napier	Auckland
Length of Residence	1 week	8 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Napier
Folio	1880
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. K. Archer, Baptist

20 January 1925

Ivan Howard Scarfe
Doris Marion Northe

Ivan Howard Scarfe
Doris Marion Northe
💍 1925/1303

Bachelor
Spinster

Warehouseman
Domestic Duties

22
18

Napier
Napier

18 years
18 years

The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier

1881

Alfred Thomas Northe, father

20 January 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	17
Date of Notice	20 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ivan Howard Scarfe	Doris Marion Northe
	💍 1925/1303
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Warehouseman	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	18 years	18 years
Marriage Place	The Manse, Lincoln Road, Napier
Folio	1881
Consent	Alfred Thomas Northe, father
Date of Certificate	20 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

21 January 1925

Edward Arthur Orbell
Nina Maude Tucker

Edward Arthur Orbell
Nina Maude Tucker
💍 1925/1304

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic Duties

29
23

Napier
Clive

4 years
23 years

St. Mark's Church, Clive

1882

21 January 1925

J. W. Chapman, Church of England

No	18
Date of Notice	21 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Arthur Orbell	Nina Maude Tucker
	💍 1925/1304
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic Duties
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Clive
Length of Residence	4 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Mark's Church, Clive
Folio	1882
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. W. Chapman, Church of England

22 January 1925

Alfred Cecil Kirkham
Doris Elizabeth Sayers

Alfred Cecil Rirkham
Doris Elizabeth Sayers
💍 1925/1305

Bachelor
Spinster

Wool Classer
Clerk

22
21

Awatoto
Port Ahuriri

22 years
21 years

St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri

1883

22 January 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	19
Date of Notice	22 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Cecil Kirkham	Doris Elizabeth Sayers
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred Cecil Rirkham	Doris Elizabeth Sayers
	💍 1925/1305
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wool Classer	Clerk
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Awatoto	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1883
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, Church of England

22 January 1925

Eric Ernest Wilmer
Margaret Hilda Sayers

Eric Ernest Wilmer
Margaret Hilda Sayers
💍 1925/1306

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Machinist

24
24

Awatoto
Port Ahuriri

7 years
24 years

St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri

1884

22 January 1925

W. J. Drake, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	22 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Ernest Wilmer	Margaret Hilda Sayers
	💍 1925/1306
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Machinist
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Awatoto	Port Ahuriri
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrew's Church, Port Ahuriri
Folio	1884
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. J. Drake, 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).