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 1388

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1925 Registrar D. 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

27 April 1925

Colin Grearer Navey
Christina Campbell

Colin Crearer Davey
Christina Campbell Kean
💍 1925/4620

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

25
21

Hastings
Hastings

2 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

4425

27 April 1925

Rev. D. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	52
Date of Notice	27 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Colin Grearer Navey	Christina Campbell
BDM Match (84%)	Colin Crearer Davey	Christina Campbell Kean
	💍 1925/4620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	4425
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Ramsay, Presbyterian

27 April 1925

William Riach
Lilian Mildred Catherwood

William Riach
Lilian Mildred Catherwood
💍 1925/4704

Widower (8 July 1919)
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

51
39

Hastings
Waikonini, Hawkes Bay

18 years
6 months

The House of Alexander Lindsay, Twyford, Hastings

4426

27 April 1925

Rev. D. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	53
Date of Notice	27 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Riach	Lilian Mildred Catherwood
	💍 1925/4704
Condition	Widower (8 July 1919)	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	51	39
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Waikonini, Hawkes Bay
Length of Residence	18 years	6 months
Marriage Place	The House of Alexander Lindsay, Twyford, Hastings
Folio	4426
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. Ramsay, Presbyterian

29 April 1925

Joseph Horran
Ellen Catherine O'Kane

Joseph Dornan
Ellen Catherine O'Kare
💍 1925/4715

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
20

Hastings
Napier

4 months
4 years

Registrars Office, Hastings

4427

Rose Ann O'Kane, mother

29 April 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	54
Date of Notice	29 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Horran	Ellen Catherine O'Kane
BDM Match (90%)	Joseph Dornan	Ellen Catherine O'Kare
	💍 1925/4715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	4 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office, Hastings
Folio	4427
Consent	Rose Ann O'Kane, mother
Date of Certificate	29 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

4 May 1925

Leslie Andrew Joseph Vidal
Maggie McKenzie Barruch

Leslie Andrew Joseph Vidal
Maggie McKenzie Carruth
💍 1925/4722

Bachelor
Spinster

Wine manufacturer
School teacher

25
22

Hastings
Hastings

18 years
10 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4428

4 May 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	55
Date of Notice	4 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Andrew Joseph Vidal	Maggie McKenzie Barruch
BDM Match (96%)	Leslie Andrew Joseph Vidal	Maggie McKenzie Carruth
	💍 1925/4722
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wine manufacturer	School teacher
Age	25	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	18 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4428
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

4 May 1925

Thomas Hedly Smith
Pauline Constance Leech

Thomas Hedley Smith
Pauline Constance Leech
💍 1925/4723

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
21

Hastings
Hastings

13 years
3 days

House of Mrs. M. Smith, 513 Ferguson Street, Hastings

4429

4 May 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	56
Date of Notice	4 May 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Hedly Smith	Pauline Constance Leech
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Hedley Smith	Pauline Constance Leech
	💍 1925/4723
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	13 years	3 days
Marriage Place	House of Mrs. M. Smith, 513 Ferguson Street, Hastings
Folio	4429
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 May 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).