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 1780

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

147

12 July 1926

Horace Reuben Duller
Cecilia Gleeson

Horace Reubin Duller
Cecilia Gleeson
💍 1926/10358

Widower
Widow (21 June 1913)

Railway Employee

49
40

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 1/2 years
Life

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

7416

12 July 1926

Rev. M. O'Beirne, Roman Catholic

No	147
Date of Notice	12 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Horace Reuben Duller	Cecilia Gleeson
BDM Match (98%)	Horace Reubin Duller	Cecilia Gleeson
	💍 1926/10358
Condition	Widower	Widow (21 June 1913)
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	49	40
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 1/2 years	Life
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7416
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. O'Beirne, Roman Catholic

148

12 July 1926

Gilbert George Scott
Gwendoline Edith Findlay

Gilbert George Scott
Gwendoline Edith Findlay
💍 1926/10359

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

24
18

Masterton
Palmerston North

3 weeks
3 years

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

7417

James Paton Findlay, father

12 July 1926

Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

No	148
Date of Notice	12 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Gilbert George Scott	Gwendoline Edith Findlay
	💍 1926/10359
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	24	18
Dwelling Place	Masterton	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	3 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7417
Consent	James Paton Findlay, father
Date of Certificate	12 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. T. Brown, Presbyterian

149

13 July 1926

John Henry Aberhart
Phyllis Ruby Stillman

John Henry Aberhart
Phyllis Ruby Stillman
💍 1926/10360

Bachelor
Spinster

Gardener

23
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
1 week

Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North

7418

13 July 1926

Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

No	149
Date of Notice	13 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Aberhart	Phyllis Ruby Stillman
	💍 1926/10360
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Gardener
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	1 week
Marriage Place	Cuba Street Methodist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	7418
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. T. Peat, Methodist

150

13 July 1926

Alfred George Tattle
Olive Grace Andrew

Alfred George Tattle
Olive Grace Andrew
💍 1926/10361

Bachelor
Spinster

Driver

23
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
Life

Residence of Mr. T. Andrew, 85 Scandia Street, Palmerston North

7419

Thomas Andrew, father

13 July 1926

Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	150
Date of Notice	13 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Tattle	Olive Grace Andrew
	💍 1926/10361
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Driver
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	Life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. T. Andrew, 85 Scandia Street, Palmerston North
Folio	7419
Consent	Thomas Andrew, father
Date of Certificate	13 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

151

19 July 1926

Donald Macarthur
Jemima Grant Sutherland

Donald Macarthur
Jemima Grant Sutherland
💍 1926/10363

Bachelor
Divorced (absolute March 1925)

Shipper

55
53

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

1 week
3 days

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

7420

19 July 1926

Registrar

No	151
Date of Notice	19 July 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Macarthur	Jemima Grant Sutherland
	💍 1926/10363
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced (absolute March 1925)
Profession	Shipper
Age	55	53
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	1 week	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	7420
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).