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 1414

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

9 January 1925

Leonard Arthur Turville
Alice Carleen Bull

Leonard Arthur Turville
Alice Carleen Bull
💍 1925/1245

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic Duties

25
26

Napier
Napier

about 20 years
26 years

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

1870

9 January 1925

F. Mayne, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	9 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Arthur Turville	Alice Carleen Bull
	💍 1925/1245
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic Duties
Age	25	26
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	about 20 years	26 years
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	1870
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1925
Officiating Minister	F. Mayne, Church of England

13 January 1925

Alfred Joseph Baker
Thomasina McDougal

Alfred Joseph Baker
Thomasina McDougal
💍 1925/1247

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry Driver
Domestic

23
18

Napier
Napier

23 years
3 years

St. Pauls Church, Napier

1871

James McDougal, Father

13 January 1925

J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Joseph Baker	Thomasina McDougal
	💍 1925/1247
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry Driver	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	23 years	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Church, Napier
Folio	1871
Consent	James McDougal, Father
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	J. A. Asher, Presbyterian

14 January 1925

Harry George Hill
Esther Stephenson Youle

Harry George Hill
Esther Stephenson Youle
💍 1925/1248

Bachelor
Divorced (Divorce Absolute 28 November 1924)

Bootmaker
Domestic

44
36

Napier
Napier

5 years
8 years

Registrars Office, Napier

1872

14 January 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	8
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry George Hill	Esther Stephenson Youle
	💍 1925/1248
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (Divorce Absolute 28 November 1924)
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	44	36
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Napier
Folio	1872
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

14 January 1925

Frederick Brewer Fabian
Barbara Christina Beveridge

Frederick Brewer Fabian
Barbara Christina Beveridge
💍 1925/10024

Bachelor
Spinster

Indentor
Domestic Duties

26
23

New Plymouth
Napier

5 years
3 weeks

Registrars Office, Napier

1873

14 January 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	9
Date of Notice	14 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Brewer Fabian	Barbara Christina Beveridge
	💍 1925/10024
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Indentor	Domestic Duties
Age	26	23
Dwelling Place	New Plymouth	Napier
Length of Residence	5 years	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Napier
Folio	1873
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

15 January 1925

Samson Hawkins
Betty Mark

Samson Hawkins
Betty Mark
💍 1925/10025

Widower
Spinster

Slaughterman
Domestic Duties

42
18

Pakowhai
Napier

42 years
2 years

Registrars Office, Napier

1874

Pute Mark, Mother

15 January 1925

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	10
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samson Hawkins	Betty Mark
	💍 1925/10025
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman	Domestic Duties
Age	42	18
Dwelling Place	Pakowhai	Napier
Length of Residence	42 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Napier
Folio	1874
Consent	Pute Mark, Mother
Date of Certificate	15 January 1925
Officiating Minister	W. 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).