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 1374

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 31 December 1935 Registrar R. B. Bartan

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

19 November 1935

Ernest Clemence
Laura May Edwards

Ernest Clemence
Laura May Edwards
💍 1925/9509

Bachelor
Spinster

Linesman
Domestic Duties

18
16

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

4 years
16 years

Methodist Manse, Dannevirke

9646

Ernest Clemence (father), B. Edwards (father)

19 November 1935

Rev. T. Daniel, Methodist

No	60
Date of Notice	19 November 1935
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Clemence	Laura May Edwards
	💍 1925/9509
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Linesman	Domestic Duties
Age	18	16
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	4 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Manse, Dannevirke
Folio	9646
Consent	Ernest Clemence (father), B. Edwards (father)
Date of Certificate	19 November 1935
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Daniel, Methodist

1 December 1935

Henry Jameson-Lawrence
Marion Ewart Smith

Henry Jameson-Lawrence
Marion Ewart Smith
💍 1925/9510

Bachelor
Spinster

Plasterer
Dressmaker

38
32

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
7 days

Mr. Baker's residence, Adelaide Road, Dannevirke

9647

1 December 1935

Rev. T. Daniel, Methodist

No	61
Date of Notice	1 December 1935
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Jameson-Lawrence	Marion Ewart Smith
	💍 1925/9510
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Plasterer	Dressmaker
Age	38	32
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Mr. Baker's residence, Adelaide Road, Dannevirke
Folio	9647
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 December 1935
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Daniel, Methodist

8 December 1935

Albert Henry Blewett
Alma Margaret Philip

Albert Henry Blewett
Alma Margaret Philip
💍 1925/9511

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Mechanic
Clerk

23
21

Wellington
Dannevirke

3 months
Life

Registrar's Office, Dannevirke

9648

8 December 1935

R. B. Bartan, Registrar

No	62
Date of Notice	8 December 1935
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Henry Blewett	Alma Margaret Philip
	💍 1925/9511
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Mechanic	Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 months	Life
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Dannevirke
Folio	9648
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1935
Officiating Minister	R. B. Bartan, Registrar

8 December 1935

Richard Handcock
Annie Madeline de Malmanche

Richard Handcock
Annie Madeline de Malmanche
💍 1925/9512

Widower (June 1920)
Widow (March 1924)

Farmer
Domestic Duties

52
41

Wharepaina
Dannevirke

12 years
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke

9649

8 December 1935

J. Ginnane, Roman Catholic

No	63
Date of Notice	8 December 1935
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Richard Handcock	Annie Madeline de Malmanche
	💍 1925/9512
Condition	Widower (June 1920)	Widow (March 1924)
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	52	41
Dwelling Place	Wharepaina	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	12 years	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Dannevirke
Folio	9649
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 December 1935
Officiating Minister	J. Ginnane, Roman Catholic

11 December 1935

Thomas William Paterson
Florence Ethel May Falconer

Thomas William Paterson
Florence Ethel May Falconer
💍 1925/9513

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic Duties

33
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

3 days
3 days

Knox Hall, Dannevirke

9650

11 December 1935

J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	64
Date of Notice	11 December 1935
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas William Paterson	Florence Ethel May Falconer
	💍 1925/9513
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic Duties
Age	33	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Knox Hall, Dannevirke
Folio	9650
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 December 1935
Officiating Minister	J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

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).