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 1429

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 December 1926 Registrar P. B. 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

116

7 December 1926

Charles Bardley Briggs
Lizzie Isabel Clarice Bignell

Charles Eardley Briggs
Lizzie Isabel Clarice Bignell
💍 1926/8612

Bachelor
Divorced 25 June 1926

Engineer
Domestic duties

28
32

Hastings
Napier

3 days
2 years

Residence of M. C. Briggs, 307 Victoria Street, Hastings

9878

7 December 1926

Rev. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	116
Date of Notice	7 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Bardley Briggs	Lizzie Isabel Clarice Bignell
BDM Match (98%)	Charles Eardley Briggs	Lizzie Isabel Clarice Bignell
	💍 1926/8612
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced 25 June 1926
Profession	Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	28	32
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	3 days	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of M. C. Briggs, 307 Victoria Street, Hastings
Folio	9878
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. Shaw, Presbyterian

117

9 December 1926

William Brown
Annie Rebecca Rossiter

William Brown
Annie Rebecca Rossiter
💍 1926/8613

Bachelor
Widow 28 October 1924

Labourer
Domestic duties

63
50

Hastings
Hastings

30 years
1 year

Baptist Manse, Hastings

9879

9 December 1926

Rev. J. K. Ewen, Baptist

No	117
Date of Notice	9 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown	Annie Rebecca Rossiter
	💍 1926/8613
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 28 October 1924
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	63	50
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	30 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Baptist Manse, Hastings
Folio	9879
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. K. Ewen, Baptist

118

10 December 1926

Bertie Boddiley
Mary Foulds

Bertie Baddiley
Mary Foulds
💍 1926/8614

Bachelor
Spinster

Vacuum cleaner
Domestic duties

31
30

Hastings
Hastings

12 years
15 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9880

10 December 1926

Rev. G. M. Thompson, Anglican

No	118
Date of Notice	10 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertie Boddiley	Mary Foulds
BDM Match (97%)	Bertie Baddiley	Mary Foulds
	💍 1926/8614
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Vacuum cleaner	Domestic duties
Age	31	30
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	12 years	15 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9880
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Thompson, Anglican

119

13 December 1926

Samuel Anderson
Ivy Pearl Martin

Samuel Anderson
Ivy Pearl Martin
💍 1926/8615

Bachelor
Spinster

Jockey
Domestic duties

21
21

Hastings
Hastings

6 months
2 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

9881

13 December 1926

Rev. G. M. Thompson, Anglican

No	119
Date of Notice	13 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Anderson	Ivy Pearl Martin
	💍 1926/8615
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Jockey	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 months	2 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	9881
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. M. Thompson, Anglican

120

13 December 1926

Leslie Roy Overend
Hilda Mary Heeney

Leslie Roy Overend
Hilda Mary Heeney
💍 1926/8616

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

24
25

Hastings
Hastings

23 years
25 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hastings

9882

13 December 1926

Rev. Father O'Shaughnessy, Roman Catholic

No	120
Date of Notice	13 December 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leslie Roy Overend	Hilda Mary Heeney
	💍 1926/8616
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	23 years	25 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hastings
Folio	9882
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 December 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father O'Shaughnessy, 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).