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 1382

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar Robert Braithwaite

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

10 March 1925

Bernard Vincent McAvinue
Rita May Gilmore

Bernard Vincent McAvinue
Rita May Gilmore
💍 1925/1254

Bachelor
Spinster

Horse Trainer
Shop Assistant

26
20

Hastings
Hastings

4 years
20 years

Roman Catholic Church

1854

William Gilmore, Father

10 March 1925

Rev. Father P. J. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

No	26
Date of Notice	10 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bernard Vincent McAvinue	Rita May Gilmore
	💍 1925/1254
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Horse Trainer	Shop Assistant
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	1854
Consent	William Gilmore, Father
Date of Certificate	10 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father P. J. O'Connell, Roman Catholic

16 March 1925

Frank Samuel Stevens
Winifred May Carter

Frank Samuel Stevens
Winifred May Carter
💍 1925/1255

Bachelor
Spinster

Bootmaker
Domestic

34
34

Woodville
Hastings

1 year
3 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

1855

16 March 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	27
Date of Notice	16 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Samuel Stevens	Winifred May Carter
	💍 1925/1255
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bootmaker	Domestic
Age	34	34
Dwelling Place	Woodville	Hastings
Length of Residence	1 year	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	1855
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

17 March 1925

William Carter
Ivy Florence Monkey

William Carter
Ivy Florence McConkey
💍 1925/1256

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman
Drapers assistant

29
20

Hastings
Hastings

20 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

1856

Under Section 24

31 March 1925

Rev. S. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	28
Date of Notice	17 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Carter	Ivy Florence Monkey
BDM Match (95%)	William Carter	Ivy Florence McConkey
	💍 1925/1256
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman	Drapers assistant
Age	29	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	1856
Consent	Under Section 24
Date of Certificate	31 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. Ramsay, Presbyterian

17 March 1925

James Wattie
Gladys Madeline Henderson

James Wattie
Gladys Madeline Henderson
💍 1925/1257

Bachelor
Spinster

Accountant
Shop Assistant

23
20

Hastings
Hastings

10 years
20 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

1857

Robert Henderson, Father

17 March 1925

Rev. J. Copeland, Methodist

No	29
Date of Notice	17 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Wattie	Gladys Madeline Henderson
	💍 1925/1257
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Accountant	Shop Assistant
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	10 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	1857
Consent	Robert Henderson, Father
Date of Certificate	17 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Copeland, Methodist

18 March 1925

Timothy Joseph Moynihan
Ivy Cecil Scholes

Timothy Joseph Moynihan
Ivy Cecil Scholes
💍 1925/1258

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

26
30

Hastings
Hastings

7 years
1 year

Presbyterian Manse, Hastings

1858

18 March 1925

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	30
Date of Notice	18 March 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Timothy Joseph Moynihan	Ivy Cecil Scholes
	💍 1925/1258
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	26	30
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	7 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse, Hastings
Folio	1858
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

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).