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 1745

District of Pahiatua Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar J. A. Dashwood

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

5 July 1926

Alfred Wayne Benson
Hilda Gwendoline Rosa Howick

Alfred Wayne Benson
Hilda Gwendoline Rosa Howick
💍 1926/10370

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic
Domestic

26
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

14 months
14 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

7404

Edward Charles Howick, Father

5 July 1926

J. A. Dashwood, Registrar

No	17
Date of Notice	5 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Wayne Benson	Hilda Gwendoline Rosa Howick
	💍 1926/10370
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic	Domestic
Age	26	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	14 months	14 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	7404
Consent	Edward Charles Howick, Father
Date of Certificate	5 July 1926
Officiating Minister	J. A. Dashwood, Registrar

7 July 1926

Frank Eric Hathaway
Kathleen Mary Moran

Frank Eric Hathaway
Kathleen Mary Moran
💍 1926/10371

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Domestic

29
27

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

29 years
4 years

Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua

7405

7 July 1926

Rev. H. Cashman, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	7 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Eric Hathaway	Kathleen Mary Moran
	💍 1926/10371
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Domestic
Age	29	27
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	29 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Pahiatua
Folio	7405
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Cashman, Roman Catholic

19 July 1926

Thomas Joseph Henderson
Eileen Maude Peney

Thomas Joseph Henderson
Eileen Maude Heney
💍 1926/10372

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway employee
Domestic

27
21

Mangamutu
Mangamutu

10 years
12 years

Registrar's Office, Pahiatua

7406

21 July 1926

J. A. Dashwood, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	19 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Joseph Henderson	Eileen Maude Peney
BDM Match (97%)	Thomas Joseph Henderson	Eileen Maude Heney
	💍 1926/10372
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway employee	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Mangamutu	Mangamutu
Length of Residence	10 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Pahiatua
Folio	7406
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 July 1926
Officiating Minister	J. A. Dashwood, Registrar

20 July 1926

Edwin James Holtham
Sarah Cecily Hanson

Edwin James Holtham
Sarah Cecily May Hanson
💍 1926/10373

Bachelor
Spinster

Brewery hand
Domestic

30
24

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

2 years
2 years

Methodist Church, Pahiatua

7407

20 July 1926

Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

No	20
Date of Notice	20 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin James Holtham	Sarah Cecily Hanson
BDM Match (91%)	Edwin James Holtham	Sarah Cecily May Hanson
	💍 1926/10373
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Brewery hand	Domestic
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Pahiatua
Folio	7407
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. A. Foston, Methodist

22 July 1926

Harry Herbert Mills
Edith Margaret Cruickshank

Harry Herbert Mills
Edith Margaret Cruikshank
💍 1926/10374

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter
Domestic

28
20

Pahiatua
Pahiatua

3 days
3 days

Church of England, Pahiatua

7408

William Cruickshank, Father

22 July 1926

Rev. S. W. Fenwick, Church of England

No	21
Date of Notice	22 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Herbert Mills	Edith Margaret Cruickshank
BDM Match (98%)	Harry Herbert Mills	Edith Margaret Cruikshank
	💍 1926/10374
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter	Domestic
Age	28	20
Dwelling Place	Pahiatua	Pahiatua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Church of England, Pahiatua
Folio	7408
Consent	William Cruickshank, Father
Date of Certificate	22 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. S. W. Fenwick, Church of England

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).