Intentions to Marry, 1926 Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840539, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1926 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.

1926d contains pages 1389-1806, covering districts from Dannevirke to Palmerston North

Page 1427

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 December 1926 Registrar R. P. Rathbone

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

106

3 November 1926

Ralph Warren Liley
Flora McPhee

Ralph Warren Liley
Flora McPhee
💍 1926/8579

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Domestic duties

29
28

Havelock North
Havelock North

29 years
28 years

Baptist Manse, Hastings

9868

3 November 1926

Rev. J. Keith Even, Baptist

No	106
Date of Notice	3 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ralph Warren Liley	Flora McPhee
	💍 1926/8579
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Havelock North
Length of Residence	29 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse, Hastings
Folio	9868
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. Keith Even, Baptist

107

4 November 1926

David McDougal
Annie Ella Jessop

David McDougal
Annie Ella Jessop
💍 1926/8580

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

24
18

Paki Paki
Hastings

19 years
2 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9869

Alfred James Jessop, Father

4 November 1926

Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

No	107
Date of Notice	4 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David McDougal	Annie Ella Jessop
	💍 1926/8580
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Paki Paki	Hastings
Length of Residence	19 years	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9869
Consent	Alfred James Jessop, Father
Date of Certificate	4 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

108

4 November 1926

Elias Edmund Deslandes
Moana Madeline Gladys Martin

Elias Edmund Deslandes
Moana Madeline Gladys Martin
💍 1926/8582

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic duties

21
18

Hastings
Hastings

6 years
8 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9870

Emma Pearl Martin, Mother

4 November 1926

Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

No	108
Date of Notice	4 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Elias Edmund Deslandes	Moana Madeline Gladys Martin
	💍 1926/8582
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9870
Consent	Emma Pearl Martin, Mother
Date of Certificate	4 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

109

6 November 1926

Royston Kenneth Campbell
Bessie [illegible] Ballantyne

Royston Kenneth Campbell
Bessie Ngaru Ballantyne
💍 1926/8583

Bachelor
Spinster

Sheepfarmer
Domestic duties

23
21

Havelock North
Hastings

23 years
2 1/2 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9871

6 November 1926

Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

No	109
Date of Notice	6 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Royston Kenneth Campbell	Bessie [illegible] Ballantyne
BDM Match (83%)	Royston Kenneth Campbell	Bessie Ngaru Ballantyne
	💍 1926/8583
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sheepfarmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9871
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

110

9 November 1926

Roy Alexander Workary
Edith Lucy Sourdon

Roy Alexander Dockary
Edith Lucy Sourdon
💍 1926/8584

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic duties

21
18

Clive
Pomoana

21 years
18 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9872

James Alexander Sourdon, Father

9 November 1926

Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

No	110
Date of Notice	9 November 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Alexander Workary	Edith Lucy Sourdon
BDM Match (95%)	Roy Alexander Dockary	Edith Lucy Sourdon
	💍 1926/8584
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic duties
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Clive	Pomoana
Length of Residence	21 years	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9872
Consent	James Alexander Sourdon, Father
Date of Certificate	9 November 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. T. Thompson, Anglican

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).