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 1786

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 30 September 1926 Registrar E. Food

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

177

8 September 1926

William Fraser
Margaret Strang Poole

William Fraser
Margaret Strang Poole
💍 1926/5741

Bachelor
Widow (4 November 1918)

Railway clerk

27
34

Palmerston North
Gordonton

5 months
4 years

In the residence of J. S. Laidlaw, Gordonton

7443

8 September 1926

Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

No	177
Date of Notice	8 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Fraser	Margaret Strang Poole
	💍 1926/5741
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (4 November 1918)
Profession	Railway clerk
Age	27	34
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Gordonton
Length of Residence	5 months	4 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of J. S. Laidlaw, Gordonton
Folio	7443
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Morgan, Presbyterian

178

9 September 1926

William Thomas Rogers
Una Agnes Craven

William Thomas Rogers
Una Agnes Craven
💍 1926/5742

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

23
22

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

22 years
8 years

Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

7444

9 September 1926

Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

No	178
Date of Notice	9 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Rogers	Una Agnes Craven
	💍 1926/5742
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	22 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7444
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

179

13 September 1926

Matthew Leslie Boyle
Frances Kellie Hirst

Matthew Leslie Boyle
Frances Nellie Hirst
💍 1926/5744

Bachelor
Spinster

Confectioner

31
21

Nightcaps
Palmerston North

1 month
3 months

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

7445

13 September 1926

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	179
Date of Notice	13 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Leslie Boyle	Frances Kellie Hirst
BDM Match (98%)	Matthew Leslie Boyle	Frances Nellie Hirst
	💍 1926/5744
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Confectioner
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Nightcaps	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 month	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7445
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

180

13 September 1926

Edwin Eroll Harford
Grace Lillian Rule

Edwin Erooll Harford
Grace Lillian Rule
💍 1926/11278

Bachelor
Spinster

Mechanic

24
24

Feilding
Palmerston North

6 years
3 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

7981

13 September 1926

Canon W. Dancourt, Anglican

No	180
Date of Notice	13 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin Eroll Harford	Grace Lillian Rule
BDM Match (98%)	Edwin Erooll Harford	Grace Lillian Rule
	💍 1926/11278
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mechanic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Feilding	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 years	3 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7981
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon W. Dancourt, Anglican

181

14 September 1926

Leonard Anderson
Rebecca Samson

Leonard Anderson
Rebecca Samson
💍 1926/5745

Widower (25 February 1921)
Widow (15 July 1921)

Clerk

39
44

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

Life
27 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

7446

14 September 1926

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	181
Date of Notice	14 September 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Anderson	Rebecca Samson
	💍 1926/5745
Condition	Widower (25 February 1921)	Widow (15 July 1921)
Profession	Clerk
Age	39	44
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	Life	27 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7446
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 September 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, 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).