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 1406

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1925 Registrar R. Brathwaite

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

129

2 October 1925

Lionel Berry
Elsie Elizabeth Sands

Lionel Berry
Elsie Elizabeth Sands
💍 1925/570

Bachelor
Spinster

Horsetrainer
Domestic

23
19

Hastings
Havelock North

4 years
6 years

Registrar's Office, Hastings

9664

William Sands, Father

2 October 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	129
Date of Notice	2 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Berry	Elsie Elizabeth Sands
	💍 1925/570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horsetrainer	Domestic
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	4 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	9664
Consent	William Sands, Father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

130

6 October 1925

Eric Reginald Jackson
Isabella Burdock Clunie

[see note in Date of Certificate column.

Divorced (decree absolute February 1924)
Spinster

Violinist
Nurse

30
20

Hastings
Havelock North

5 days
3 months

Baptist Manse, Hastings

Certificate never issued

No	130
Date of Notice	6 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Reginald Jackson	Isabella Burdock Clunie
	💍 [see note in Date of Certificate column.
Condition	Divorced (decree absolute February 1924)	Spinster
Profession	Violinist	Nurse
Age	30	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock North
Length of Residence	5 days	3 months
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse, Hastings
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	Certificate never issued
Officiating Minister

131

30 October 1925

Robert Arrell
Margaret Ellen Harper

Robert Arrell
Margaret Ellen Harper
💍 1925/571

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

23
21

Hastings
Hastings

18 months
21 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

9665

30 October 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	131
Date of Notice	30 October 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Arrell	Margaret Ellen Harper
	💍 1925/571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	18 months	21 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	9665
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 October 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

132

2 November 1925

Frederick Gordon McAlister
Edith Elizabeth Adams

Frederick Gordon McAlister
Edith Elizabeth Adams
💍 1925/572

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Clerk

40
23

Hastings
Hastings

5 years
23 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

9666

2 November 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	132
Date of Notice	2 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick Gordon McAlister	Edith Elizabeth Adams
	💍 1925/572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Clerk
Age	40	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	23 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	9666
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

133

2 November 1925

Frederick William Edwards
Edna Bessie Goodwin

Frederick William Edwards
Edna Bessie Goodwin
💍 1925/573

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Shop Assistant

22
24

Hastings
Hastings

12 months
2 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

9667

2 November 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	133
Date of Notice	2 November 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frederick William Edwards	Edna Bessie Goodwin
	💍 1925/573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Shop Assistant
Age	22	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 months	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	9667
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 November 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

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).