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 1763

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar E. J. G. [illegible]

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

26 March 1926

Samuel John Harvey
Adeline Amelia de Rosa

Samuel John Harvey
Adeline Amelia De Rosa
💍 1926/10837

Bachelor
Spinster

Assistant manager

23
20

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
12 years

St. Patricks church

2346

Joseph de Rosa, Father

26 March 1926

Rev. M. O'Beirne, Roman Catholic

No	71
Date of Notice	26 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel John Harvey	Adeline Amelia de Rosa
BDM Match (98%)	Samuel John Harvey	Adeline Amelia De Rosa
	💍 1926/10837
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Assistant manager
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks church
Folio	2346
Consent	Joseph de Rosa, Father
Date of Certificate	26 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. O'Beirne, Roman Catholic

26 March 1926

Philip Albert Edward Elmore
Ellen Mena Oppatt

Philip Albert Edward Elsmore
Ellen Mena Oppatt
💍 1926/2091

Bachelor
Spinster

Lorry driver

25
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

6 years
8 years

St. Davids church

2347

26 March 1926

Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	72
Date of Notice	26 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Albert Edward Elmore	Ellen Mena Oppatt
BDM Match (98%)	Philip Albert Edward Elsmore	Ellen Mena Oppatt
	💍 1926/2091
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lorry driver
Age	25	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 years	8 years
Marriage Place	St. Davids church
Folio	2347
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

27 March 1926

Arthur Etheridge
Doris Lillian Victoria Smith

Arthur Etheridge
Doris Lillian Victoria Smith
💍 1926/3557

Bachelor
Spinster

Petty officer Royal navy

30
22

H.M.S. Veronica
Palmerston North

2 years
2 years

All Saints church

2347

27 March 1926

Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	73
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Etheridge	Doris Lillian Victoria Smith
	💍 1926/3557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Petty officer Royal navy
Age	30	22
Dwelling Place	H.M.S. Veronica	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints church
Folio	2347
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

27 March 1926

Lawrence Francis McCulloch
Andrea Margaret Gulbranson

Lawrence Francis McCulloch
Andrea Margaret Gulbransen
💍 1926/2092

Bachelor
Spinster

Fitter

27
22

Shannon
Palmerston North

7 years
11 years

All Saints church

2348

27 March 1926

Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	74
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lawrence Francis McCulloch	Andrea Margaret Gulbranson
BDM Match (98%)	Lawrence Francis McCulloch	Andrea Margaret Gulbransen
	💍 1926/2092
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fitter
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Shannon	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	7 years	11 years
Marriage Place	All Saints church
Folio	2348
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

27 March 1926

Arthur Smith White
Elsie Louisa Thompson

Arthur Smith White
Elsie Lousia Thompson
💍 1926/2093

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
22

Palmerston North
Glen Orona

3 days
18 years

St. Andrews church

2349

27 March 1926

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	75
Date of Notice	27 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Smith White	Elsie Louisa Thompson
BDM Match (95%)	Arthur Smith White	Elsie Lousia Thompson
	💍 1926/2093
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Glen Orona
Length of Residence	3 days	18 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews church
Folio	2349
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, 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).