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 1378

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 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

8 January 1925

Reginald Howard Marsh
Lillian Edna Stanton

Reginald Howard Marsh
Lillian Edna Stanton
💍 1925/1262

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic

26
24

Hastings
Hastings

2 years
1 year

Salvation Army Hall, Hastings

1836

8 January 1925

Adjutant A. Mackenzie

No	6
Date of Notice	8 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Howard Marsh	Lillian Edna Stanton
	💍 1925/1262
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	2 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Hastings
Folio	1836
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Adjutant A. Mackenzie

12 January 1925

Ian Samuel William Bingham Simpson
Frances Geraldine Adams

Ian Samuel William Bingham Simpson
Frances Geraldine Adams
💍 1925/1263

Bachelor
Spinster

School Teacher
School Teacher

24
20

Hastings
Hastings

4 weeks
18 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

1837

Walter William Burton Adams, Father

12 January 1925

Rev. J. M. Simpson B.A., Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ian Samuel William Bingham Simpson	Frances Geraldine Adams
	💍 1925/1263
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	School Teacher	School Teacher
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 weeks	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	1837
Consent	Walter William Burton Adams, Father
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. M. Simpson B.A., Presbyterian

12 January 1925

Walter Allan Rowe
Elsie Eliza Mitchell

Walter Allan Rowe
Elsie Eliza Mitchell
💍 1925/1264

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

24
22

Hastings
Hastings

24 years
22 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

1838

12 January 1925

Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	12 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Allan Rowe	Elsie Eliza Mitchell
	💍 1925/1264
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	24	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	24 years	22 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	1838
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. E. Draper, Anglican

13 January 1925

Alfred Roy Liyon
Christina Campbell

Alfred Roy Dixon
Christina Campbell
💍 1925/1265

Bachelor
Spinster

Seedsman
Domestic

28
26

Greenhill, Hastings
Hastings

25 years
8 years

St. Andrews Church, Hastings

1839

13 January 1925

Rev. J. C. Young, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	13 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Roy Liyon	Christina Campbell
BDM Match (94%)	Alfred Roy Dixon	Christina Campbell
	💍 1925/1265
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Seedsman	Domestic
Age	28	26
Dwelling Place	Greenhill, Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Hastings
Folio	1839
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. C. Young, Presbyterian

15 January 1925

Vernon Douglas Reynolds
Marion Augusta Grace Hunter

Veruon Douglas Reynolds
Marion Augusta Grace Hunter
💍 1925/1266

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheep Farmer
Exchange Clerk

24
25

Mangatahi, Hastings
Hastings

5 years
9 years

Sacred Heart Church, Hastings

1840

15 January 1925

Rev. Father McDonald, Roman Catholic

No	10
Date of Notice	15 January 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Vernon Douglas Reynolds	Marion Augusta Grace Hunter
BDM Match (98%)	Veruon Douglas Reynolds	Marion Augusta Grace Hunter
	💍 1925/1266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheep Farmer	Exchange Clerk
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Mangatahi, Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	5 years	9 years
Marriage Place	Sacred Heart Church, Hastings
Folio	1840
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 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).