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 1436

District of Napier Quarter ending 31 March 1926 Registrar W. Buchanan

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

George Falkland Gardiner
Gladys Hickes

George Falkland Gardiner
Gladys Hickes
💍 1926/1960

Bachelor
Widow

Sheep farmer
Domestic Duties

33
31

Napier
Napier

3 years
1 year

St. John's Cathedral, Napier

2114

8 February 1926

Canon K. E. Maclean, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	8 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Falkland Gardiner	Gladys Hickes
	💍 1926/1960
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Sheep farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Napier	Napier
Length of Residence	3 years	1 year
Marriage Place	St. John's Cathedral, Napier
Folio	2114
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Canon K. E. Maclean, Church of England

10 February 1926

Reginald Milford Stewart Young
Dolores McHugh

Reginald Milford Stewart Young
Dolores McHugh
💍 1926/1961

Bachelor
Spinster

Fireman, N.Z. Railways
Tailoress

23
23

Meeanee, Taumarunui
Meeanee, Taumarunui

1 week, 3 years
2 months, 16 years

All Saints Church, Taradale

2115

10 February 1926

A. Hodge, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	10 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald Milford Stewart Young	Dolores McHugh
	💍 1926/1961
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fireman, N.Z. Railways	Tailoress
Age	23	23
Dwelling Place	Meeanee, Taumarunui	Meeanee, Taumarunui
Length of Residence	1 week, 3 years	2 months, 16 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Taradale
Folio	2115
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1926
Officiating Minister	A. Hodge, Church of England

10 February 1926

Turner Williams
Annie McEntaggart

Turner Williams
Annie McEntaggart
💍 1926/1962

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Hotel employee

23
27

Napier, Gisborne
Napier, Gisborne

3 months, 10 years
3 months, 3 years

St. Patricks Church, Napier

2116

10 February 1926

P. W. Tymons, Roman Catholic

No	18
Date of Notice	10 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Turner Williams	Annie McEntaggart
	💍 1926/1962
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Hotel employee
Age	23	27
Dwelling Place	Napier, Gisborne	Napier, Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 months, 10 years	3 months, 3 years
Marriage Place	St. Patricks Church, Napier
Folio	2116
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1926
Officiating Minister	P. W. Tymons, Roman Catholic

17 February 1926

Edward Alfred Goodwin
Emily Joan Hales

Edward Alfred Goodwin
Emily Joan Hales
💍 1926/1963

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

26
22

Napier, Hastings
Napier, Hastings

3 months, 12 months
4 months, 13 months

Registrar's Office, Napier

2117

17 February 1926

W. Buchanan, Registrar

No	19
Date of Notice	17 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alfred Goodwin	Emily Joan Hales
	💍 1926/1963
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Napier, Hastings	Napier, Hastings
Length of Residence	3 months, 12 months	4 months, 13 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Napier
Folio	2117
Consent
Date of Certificate	17 February 1926
Officiating Minister	W. Buchanan, Registrar

18 February 1926

Laurence Hawkesford Duncan Anderson
Joy Elsie Howell

Laurance Hawkesford Duncan Anderson
Ivy Elsie Howell
💍 1926/1964

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi Proprietor
Domestic Duties

22
23

Napier
Kissington

6 years
5 years

St. Augustine's Church, Napier

2118

18 February 1926

H. W. Klingender, Church of England

No	20
Date of Notice	18 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Laurence Hawkesford Duncan Anderson	Joy Elsie Howell
BDM Match (92%)	Laurance Hawkesford Duncan Anderson	Ivy Elsie Howell
	💍 1926/1964
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi Proprietor	Domestic Duties
Age	22	23
Dwelling Place	Napier	Kissington
Length of Residence	6 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Augustine's Church, Napier
Folio	2118
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 February 1926
Officiating Minister	H. W. Klingender, 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).