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 1754

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar E. Wood

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

8 February 1926

Walter John Complin
Alison May Rush

Walter John Complin
Alison May Rush
💍 1926/1219

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

34
25

Rewa
Palmerston North

8 months
20 years

Baptist Church, Palmerston North

2303

8 February 1926

Rev. C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

No	26
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter John Complin	Alison May Rush
	💍 1926/1219
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	34	25
Dwelling Place	Rewa	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 months	20 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2303
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. W. Duncumb, Baptist

8 February 1926

Evan Williams
Margaret Adamson

Evan Williams
Margaret Adamson
💍 1926/1220

Bachelor
Spinster

Foreman Public Works Department

26
26

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

2 days
11 days

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

2304

8 February 1926

Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Evan Williams	Margaret Adamson
	💍 1926/1220
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Foreman Public Works Department
Age	26	26
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	2 days	11 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2304
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. H. Bredin, Presbyterian

8 February 1926

Alfred Michael Dale
Esther May Rule

Alfred Michael Dale
Esther May Rule
💍 1926/1221

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher

24
21

Taumarunui
Palmerston North

6 weeks
2 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

2305

8 February 1926

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	28
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred Michael Dale	Esther May Rule
	💍 1926/1221
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	6 weeks	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2305
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

8 February 1926

Donald Graeme Yule
Constance Elizabeth Voss

Donald Graeme Yule
Constance Elizabeth Voss
💍 1926/1222

Divorced (Decree absolute February 1923)
Spinster

Builder

34
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years
21 years

Kosy Mission Hall, Palmerston North

2306

8 February 1926

Rev. D. B. F. Carlisle, Undenominational

No	29
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald Graeme Yule	Constance Elizabeth Voss
	💍 1926/1222
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute February 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Builder
Age	34	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years	21 years
Marriage Place	Kosy Mission Hall, Palmerston North
Folio	2306
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. D. B. F. Carlisle, Undenominational

9 February 1926

Ernest Albert Perry
Hila May Brogden

Ernest Albert Perry
Nita May Brogden
💍 1926/1223

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

28
23

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

Life
17 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

2307

9 February 1926

Rev. Canon W. Fancourt, Anglican

No	30
Date of Notice	9 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Albert Perry	Hila May Brogden
BDM Match (94%)	Ernest Albert Perry	Nita May Brogden
	💍 1926/1223
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	28	23
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	Life	17 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2307
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon W. Fancourt, 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).