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 1396

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar Robert 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

6 July 1925

Francis David Barrington
Grace Mona Kerr

Francis David Carrington
Grace Mona Kerr
💍 1925/6892

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

29
20

Tomoana
Hastings

29 years
20 years

Residence of Mr. John Kerr, Waipuna Street, Hastings

6892

John Kerr, Father

6 July 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	88
Date of Notice	6 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis David Barrington	Grace Mona Kerr
BDM Match (98%)	Francis David Carrington	Grace Mona Kerr
	💍 1925/6892
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Tomoana	Hastings
Length of Residence	29 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. John Kerr, Waipuna Street, Hastings
Folio	6892
Consent	John Kerr, Father
Date of Certificate	6 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

10 July 1925

Henare Poaka
Tiro Takitahi

Henare Paaka
Tira Takitahi
💍 1925/6893

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

35
26

Matahiwi
Hastings

13 years
6 months

Registrar's Office, Hastings

6893

10 July 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	89
Date of Notice	10 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henare Poaka	Tiro Takitahi
BDM Match (92%)	Henare Paaka	Tira Takitahi
	💍 1925/6893
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	35	26
Dwelling Place	Matahiwi	Hastings
Length of Residence	13 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hastings
Folio	6893
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

18 July 1925

Leonard Walter Johnson
May Pearson Porter

Leonard Walter Johnson
May Pearson Porter
💍 1925/6894

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

24
26

Shannon
Hastings

5 years
3 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

6894

18 July 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	90
Date of Notice	18 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Walter Johnson	May Pearson Porter
	💍 1925/6894
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	24	26
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	6894
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

20 July 1925

Michael O'Brien
Annie Berry

Michael O'Brien
Annie Berry
💍 1925/6896

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Typiste

36
26

Hastings
Hastings

15 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

6895

20 July 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	91
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Michael O'Brien	Annie Berry
	💍 1925/6896
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Typiste
Age	36	26
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	6895
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

21 July 1925

Bernard Eric Kale
Eileen Grace Hunt

Bernard Eric Kale
Eileen Grace Hunt
💍 1925/6897

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Shop assistant

21
19

Hastings
Havelock Road, Hastings

22 years
14 years

Baptist Manse, Havelock Road, Hastings

6896

Elizabeth Hunt, Mother

21 July 1925

Rev. J. Reid Ewen, Baptist

No	92
Date of Notice	21 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Eric Kale	Eileen Grace Hunt
	💍 1925/6897
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Shop assistant
Age	21	19
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Havelock Road, Hastings
Length of Residence	22 years	14 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse, Havelock Road, Hastings
Folio	6896
Consent	Elizabeth Hunt, Mother
Date of Certificate	21 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Reid Ewen, Baptist

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).