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 1368

District of Dannevirke Quarter ending 30 September 1925 Registrar R. B. Ross

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

9 July 1925

George Frederick Johnson
Edith Edna Ferrick

George Frederick Johnson
Edith Edna Ferrick
💍 1925/6872

Bachelor
Spinster

Mail Driver
Domestic Duties

35
23

Pongaroa
Waione

Life
Life

Presbyterian Church

6871

9 July 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	9 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Johnson	Edith Edna Ferrick
	💍 1925/6872
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mail Driver	Domestic Duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Pongaroa	Waione
Length of Residence	Life	Life
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	6871
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

8 July 1925

John Ernest Wright
Dorothy Davies

John Ernest Wright
Dorothy Davies
💍 1925/6873

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Manager
Domestic Duties

40
21

Carterton
Dannevirke

2 months
Life

Roman Catholic Church

6872

9 July 1925

Rev. T. Guinane, Roman Catholic

No	40
Date of Notice	8 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ernest Wright	Dorothy Davies
	💍 1925/6873
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Manager	Domestic Duties
Age	40	21
Dwelling Place	Carterton	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 months	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	6872
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Guinane, Roman Catholic

16 July 1925

William Gerald Miller Blackwood
Doris May Maddaford

William Gerald Miller Blackwood
Doris May Maddaford
💍 1925/6874

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Painter
Domestic Duties

24
23

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

6 months
6 months

Presbyterian Manse

6873

17 July 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	41
Date of Notice	16 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Gerald Miller Blackwood	Doris May Maddaford
	💍 1925/6874
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Painter	Domestic Duties
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse
Folio	6873
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

20 July 1925

John Francis Hitchman
Muriel Irene Morgan

John Francis Hitchman
Muriel Irene Morgan
💍 1925/6875

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
18

Dannevirke
Dannevirke

2 years
Life

Roman Catholic Church

6874

Hubert Morgan, father

24 July 1925

Rev. T. Guinane, Roman Catholic

No	42
Date of Notice	20 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Francis Hitchman	Muriel Irene Morgan
	💍 1925/6875
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	18
Dwelling Place	Dannevirke	Dannevirke
Length of Residence	2 years	Life
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church
Folio	6874
Consent	Hubert Morgan, father
Date of Certificate	24 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. T. Guinane, Roman Catholic

24 July 1925

Donald Thomas Nicholson
Gladys Muriel Erskine

Donald Thomas Nicholson
Gladys Muriel Erstine
💍 1925/6876

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

39
25

Mangatera
Piri Piri

9 years
6 years

Residence of Brides Parents, Piri Piri

6875

24 July 1925

Rev. J. T. Macky, Presbyterian

No	43
Date of Notice	24 July 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Thomas Nicholson	Gladys Muriel Erskine
BDM Match (98%)	Donald Thomas Nicholson	Gladys Muriel Erstine
	💍 1925/6876
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	39	25
Dwelling Place	Mangatera	Piri Piri
Length of Residence	9 years	6 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Brides Parents, Piri Piri
Folio	6875
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1925
Officiating Minister	Rev. 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).