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 1410

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar R. B. Ross

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

149

1 December 1925

Richard Herbert Kittermaster
Ellen Hayes

Richard Herbert Kittermaster
Ellen Hayes
💍 1925/9544

Divorced, decree absolute October 1924
Spinster

Orchardist
Domestic duties

54
45

Hastings
Hastings

19 years
1 month

Presbyterian Manse, Hastings

9683

1 December 1925

P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	149
Date of Notice	1 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Herbert Kittermaster	Ellen Hayes
	💍 1925/9544
Condition	Divorced, decree absolute October 1924	Spinster
Profession	Orchardist	Domestic duties
Age	54	45
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	19 years	1 month
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hastings
Folio	9683
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1925
Officiating Minister	P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

150

12 December 1925

Felix Beattie
Agnes Marshall

Felix Beattie
Agnes Marshall
💍 1925/9545

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm hand
Domestic duties

31
34

Hastings
Havelock North

12 months
34 years

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

9684

12 December 1925

Rev. F. T. Stincey, Anglican

No	150
Date of Notice	12 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Felix Beattie	Agnes Marshall
	💍 1925/9545
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm hand	Domestic duties
Age	31	34
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	12 months	34 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio	9684
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. T. Stincey, Anglican

151

17 December 1925

Frank Percival Joll
Caroline Frances Whitaker

Frank Percival Joll
Caroline Frances Whitaker
💍 1925/9546

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Dressmaker

24
24

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
24 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9685

17 December 1925

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	151
Date of Notice	17 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Percival Joll	Caroline Frances Whitaker
	💍 1925/9546
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Dressmaker
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	24 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9685
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

152

18 December 1925

James Leslie Woon
Rita May Oscend

James Leslie Woon
Rita May Overend
💍 1925/10515

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

25
20

Havelock North
Havelock North

24 years
5 years

St. Columbas Church, Havelock North

10454

Edith May Slade, mother

18 December 1925

Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

No	152
Date of Notice	18 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Leslie Woon	Rita May Oscend
BDM Match (91%)	James Leslie Woon	Rita May Overend
	💍 1925/10515
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	24 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Columbas Church, Havelock North
Folio	10454
Consent	Edith May Slade, mother
Date of Certificate	18 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Waugh, Presbyterian

153

19 December 1925

James Joseph Austin
Enid Victoria May Webster

James Joseph Austin
Enid Victoria May Webster
💍 1925/9523

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Civil Servant

32
20

Whakatu
Whakatu

15 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

9686

James Webster, father

19 December 1925

Rev. Father Macdonald, Roman Catholic

No	153
Date of Notice	19 December 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Joseph Austin	Enid Victoria May Webster
	💍 1925/9523
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Civil Servant
Age	32	20
Dwelling Place	Whakatu	Whakatu
Length of Residence	15 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	9686
Consent	James Webster, father
Date of Certificate	19 December 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father Macdonald, Roman Catholic

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).