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 1752

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

27 January 1926

Thomas O'Neill
Jessie Robina Greenhill

Thomas O'Neill
Jessie Robina Greenhill
💍 1926/1989

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

34
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 1/2 years
10 years

Registrar's Office, Palmerston North

2293

27 January 1926

Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	27 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas O'Neill	Jessie Robina Greenhill
	💍 1926/1989
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Palmerston North
Folio	2293
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar

27 January 1926

Roy Rudolph Williams
Evangeline Grace Wildbore

Roy Rudolph Williams
Evangeline Grace Wildbore
💍 1926/1990

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
21

Palmerston North
Pohangina

3 days
21 years

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

2294

27 January 1926

Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	27 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Roy Rudolph Williams	Evangeline Grace Wildbore
	💍 1926/1990
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Pohangina
Length of Residence	3 days	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2294
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

29 January 1926

Herbert William Benjamin Cox
Edith Blanche Smithers

Herbert William Benjamin Cox
Edith Blanche Smithers
💍 1926/1992

Widower (July 1923)
Spinster

Janitor

32
25

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

5 years 4 months
5 months

St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North

2295

29 January 1926

Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	29 January 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert William Benjamin Cox	Edith Blanche Smithers
	💍 1926/1992
Condition	Widower (July 1923)	Spinster
Profession	Janitor
Age	32	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	5 years 4 months	5 months
Marriage Place	St. Patrick's Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2295
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 January 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. F. MacManus, Roman Catholic

2 February 1926

Anthony Marcus Kingbeer
Vera Fanny Reid

Anthony Marcus Kingsbeer
Vera Fanny Reid
💍 1926/1993

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

20
19

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
2 years

Residence of Mr. F. Mouat, 2 Ranfurly Street, Palmerston North

2296

Alonzo Kingbeer, father; Archibald Reid, father

2 February 1926

A. H. Charker, Salvation Army

No	19
Date of Notice	2 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Marcus Kingbeer	Vera Fanny Reid
BDM Match (98%)	Anthony Marcus Kingsbeer	Vera Fanny Reid
	💍 1926/1993
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	20	19
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. F. Mouat, 2 Ranfurly Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2296
Consent	Alonzo Kingbeer, father; Archibald Reid, father
Date of Certificate	2 February 1926
Officiating Minister	A. H. Charker, Salvation Army

2 February 1926

Ernest Cristian Jensen
Ida Florence Holbrook

Ernest Christian Jensen
Ida Florence Holbrook
💍 1926/1994

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

21
23

Longburn
Palmerston North

8 years
5 years

Baptist Church, Palmerston North

2297

2 February 1926

Rev. B. W. Duncumb, Baptist

No	20
Date of Notice	2 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Cristian Jensen	Ida Florence Holbrook
BDM Match (98%)	Ernest Christian Jensen	Ida Florence Holbrook
	💍 1926/1994
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	21	23
Dwelling Place	Longburn	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	8 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Baptist Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2297
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. B. W. Duncumb, Baptist

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).