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 1732

District of Otaki Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar S. P. Eddy

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

6 March 1926

Henry Stephen Woolcott
Maud Agnes Pipe

Henry Stephen Woolcott
Maud Agnes Pipe
💍 1926/1185

Divorced (Decree absolute 16 February 1926)
Widow (4 August 1922)

Plumber
Domestic Duties

51
46

Wellington
Otaki

51 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Otaki

2268

6 March 1926

Registrar of Marriages, Otaki

No	6
Date of Notice	6 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Stephen Woolcott	Maud Agnes Pipe
	💍 1926/1185
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute 16 February 1926)	Widow (4 August 1922)
Profession	Plumber	Domestic Duties
Age	51	46
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Otaki
Length of Residence	51 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Otaki
Folio	2268
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Registrar of Marriages, Otaki

16 March 1926

Irwin Alexander Jones
Maud Anne Elderton

Irwin Alexander Jones
Maud Anne Elderton
💍 1926/1186

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank officer
Domestic

27
21

Otaki
Otaki

1 week
5 years

Church of England, Otaki

2269

16 March 1926

Rev. G. K. Moir, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	16 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Irwin Alexander Jones	Maud Anne Elderton
	💍 1926/1186
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank officer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	1 week	5 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Otaki
Folio	2269
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Moir, Church of England

23 March 1926

Eric Vivian Parry Tooby
Violet Kathleen Seymour

Eric Vivian Parry Tooby
Violet Kathleen Seymour
💍 1926/3562

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
School Teacher

29
25

Otaki
Paekakariki

5 years
1 year

Congregational Church, Masterton

2830

23 March 1926

Rev. E. W. Weymouth, Congregationalist

No	8
Date of Notice	23 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eric Vivian Parry Tooby	Violet Kathleen Seymour
	💍 1926/3562
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	School Teacher
Age	29	25
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Paekakariki
Length of Residence	5 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Congregational Church, Masterton
Folio	2830
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. E. W. Weymouth, Congregationalist

24 March 1926

Herbert Stanley Moffatt
Jean Marion Watson

Herbert Stanley Moffatt
Jean Marion Watson
💍 1926/1188

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Nurse

28
19

Otaki
Otaki

4 years
4 months

Methodist Church, Otaki

2270

Lilian Watson, mother

24 March 1926

Rev. Liddell, Methodist

No	9
Date of Notice	24 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Stanley Moffatt	Jean Marion Watson
	💍 1926/1188
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Nurse
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Otaki	Otaki
Length of Residence	4 years	4 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Otaki
Folio	2270
Consent	Lilian Watson, mother
Date of Certificate	24 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Liddell, Methodist

30 March 1926

William Lydner Smith
Norah Edyth Macmillan

William Sydney Smith
Norah Edyth Macmillan
💍 1926/1189

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm Labourer
Motor Driver

27
28

Paraparaumu
Hawera

7 months
4 months

Church of England, Paraparaumu

2271

30 March 1926

Rev. Wilson, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	30 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Lydner Smith	Norah Edyth Macmillan
BDM Match (95%)	William Sydney Smith	Norah Edyth Macmillan
	💍 1926/1189
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm Labourer	Motor Driver
Age	27	28
Dwelling Place	Paraparaumu	Hawera
Length of Residence	7 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Paraparaumu
Folio	2271
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Wilson, Church of England

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).