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 1410

District of Hastings Quarter ending 30 June 1926 Registrar Robert Brathwaite

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

1 April 1926

Jack Harris
Norma Gethin Gough

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Stenographer

22
21

Hastings
Napier

20 years
21 years

St. Lukes Church, Havelock North

1 April 1926

Rev. Canon A. Lear, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	1 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Jack Harris	Norma Gethin Gough
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Stenographer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Napier
Length of Residence	20 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Lukes Church, Havelock North
Folio
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon A. Lear, Anglican

8 April 1926

Harry Norman Crawford
Gladys Faith Shaw

Harry Norman Crawford
Gladys Faith Shaw
💍 1926/10073

Bachelor
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic duties

23
22

Hastings
Hastings

19 years
12 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4808

8 April 1926

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	36
Date of Notice	8 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Norman Crawford	Gladys Faith Shaw
	💍 1926/10073
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic duties
Age	23	22
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	19 years	12 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4808
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

12 April 1926

Leo Augustus Nelson
Isabel Isabel Bruner

Leo Augustus Nelson
Mabel Isabel Brimer
💍 1926/10074

Widower (30 November 1920)
Spinster

Company manager
Clerk

36
28

Hastings
Hastings

9 days
28 years

St. Matthews Church, Hastings

4809

12 April 1926

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	12 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leo Augustus Nelson	Isabel Isabel Bruner
BDM Match (90%)	Leo Augustus Nelson	Mabel Isabel Brimer
	💍 1926/10074
Condition	Widower (30 November 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Company manager	Clerk
Age	36	28
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	9 days	28 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church, Hastings
Folio	4809
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

13 April 1926

Healey George Harvey
Hinemoa Violet Colleson

Hedley George Harvey
Hinemoa Violet Collison
💍 1926/10051

Bachelor
Spinster

Ironmonger
Domestic duties

35
23

Hastings
Waipawa

35 years
23 years

Methodist Church, Hastings

4810

13 April 1926

Rev. G. K. Bean, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	13 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Healey George Harvey	Hinemoa Violet Colleson
BDM Match (95%)	Hedley George Harvey	Hinemoa Violet Collison
	💍 1926/10051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Ironmonger	Domestic duties
Age	35	23
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Waipawa
Length of Residence	35 years	23 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hastings
Folio	4810
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. K. Bean, Methodist

14 April 1926

John Alexander McKay
Amelia Hannah Wilson

John Alexander McNab
Amelia Hannah Wilson
💍 1926/10052

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
24

Hastings
Hastings

30 years
24 years

Presbyterian Church, Hastings

4811

14 April 1926

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	39
Date of Notice	14 April 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander McKay	Amelia Hannah Wilson
BDM Match (95%)	John Alexander McNab	Amelia Hannah Wilson
	💍 1926/10052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	24
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	30 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hastings
Folio	4811
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

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).