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 1386

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 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

4 April 1925

John Henry Reeves
Alice Madeline Allen

John Henry Reeves
Alice Madeline Allen
💍 1925/4610

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic

30
36

Twyford
Hastings

30 years
36 years

Residence of G. R. Allen, Gallien Street, Hastings

4415

4 April 1925

Rev. A. B. Hughes, Baptist

No	42
Date of Notice	4 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Reeves	Alice Madeline Allen
	💍 1925/4610
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic
Age	30	36
Dwelling Place	Twyford	Hastings
Length of Residence	30 years	36 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. R. Allen, Gallien Street, Hastings
Folio	4415
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. B. Hughes, Baptist

6 April 1925

Laurence Alexander Hume
Patricia Jones

Laurence Alexander Hume
Patricia Jones
💍 1925/10026

Bachelor
Spinster

Station Manager
Domestic duties

22
21

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
21 years

Registrar Office, Hastings

4416

6 April 1925

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	43
Date of Notice	6 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Alexander Hume	Patricia Jones
	💍 1925/10026
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Station Manager	Domestic duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Registrar Office, Hastings
Folio	4416
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

8 April 1925

Cyril MacDonald
Mary Emma Pepper

Cyril MacDonald
Mary Emma Pepper
💍 1925/4611

Bachelor
Spinster

Land Salesman
Dressmaker

26
28

Christchurch
Hastings

3 years
3 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

4417

8 April 1925

Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

No	44
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Cyril MacDonald	Mary Emma Pepper
	💍 1925/4611
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land Salesman	Dressmaker
Age	26	28
Dwelling Place	Christchurch	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	4417
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. Copeland, Methodist

8 April 1925

Peter Charles Annan
Doris Catherine Geddes

Peter Charles Annan
Doris Catherine Geddes
💍 1925/4612

Bachelor
Spinster

Barman
Domestic duties

24
22

Dannevirke
Hastings

6 weeks
22 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

4418

8 April 1925

Rev. Father O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	45
Date of Notice	8 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Peter Charles Annan	Doris Catherine Geddes
	💍 1925/4612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Barman	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 weeks	22 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	4418
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Connell, Roman Catholic

9 April 1925

Martin Henry Casserly
Hannah Gilhooly

Martin Henry Casserly
Hannah Gilhooly
💍 1925/4613

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman N.Z. Railways
Clerk

27
25

Napier
Hastings

3 months
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

4419

9 April 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	46
Date of Notice	9 April 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Martin Henry Casserly	Hannah Gilhooly
	💍 1925/4613
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman N.Z. Railways	Clerk
Age	27	25
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	4419
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

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).