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 1406

District of Hastings Quarter ending 31 March 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

27 February 1926

Leonard John Isaac Franklin
Bridget Mary Hoarthy

Leonard John Isaac Franklin
Bridget Mary McCarthy
💍 1926/3150

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver
Cook

27
26

Havelock North
Hastings

4 months
4 days

Registrars Office Hastings

2086

27 February 1926

Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

No	16
Date of Notice	27 February 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard John Isaac Franklin	Bridget Mary Hoarthy
BDM Match (93%)	Leonard John Isaac Franklin	Bridget Mary McCarthy
	💍 1926/3150
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver	Cook
Age	27	26
Dwelling Place	Havelock North	Hastings
Length of Residence	4 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hastings
Folio	2086
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1926
Officiating Minister	Robert Brathwaite, Registrar

2 March 1926

Ronald James Rowbray
Alice Maud Crawford

Ronald James Mowbray
Alice Maud Crawford
💍 1926/3151

Bachelor
Spinster

Coppersmith
Clerk

25
24

Wellington
Hastings

25 years
14 years

St. Matthews Church Hastings

2087

2 March 1926

Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

No	17
Date of Notice	2 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ronald James Rowbray	Alice Maud Crawford
BDM Match (98%)	Ronald James Mowbray	Alice Maud Crawford
	💍 1926/3151
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Coppersmith	Clerk
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wellington	Hastings
Length of Residence	25 years	14 years
Marriage Place	St. Matthews Church Hastings
Folio	2087
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. J. Hall, Anglican

4 March 1926

Raymond Greenfield
Minnie Sophia Lines

Raymond Greenfield
Minnie Sophia Lines
💍 1926/3152

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic duties

38
35

Napier
Hastings

8 years
19 years

Presbyterian Church

2088

4 March 1926

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	18
Date of Notice	4 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Raymond Greenfield	Minnie Sophia Lines
	💍 1926/3152
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic duties
Age	38	35
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church
Folio	2088
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

9 March 1926

Arthur Freeman Lawson
Elizabeth Halley

Arthur Freeman Lawson
Elizabeth Halley
💍 1926/3153

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute August 1925

Driver
Milliner

27
39

Napier
Hastings

6 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church Hastings

2089

9 March 1926

Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

No	19
Date of Notice	9 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Freeman Lawson	Elizabeth Halley
	💍 1926/3153
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute August 1925
Profession	Driver	Milliner
Age	27	39
Dwelling Place	Napier	Hastings
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Hastings
Folio	2089
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Ramsay, Presbyterian

13 March 1926

Henry Ralph Heywood
Ivy Florence Enna Lean

Henry Ralph Heywood
Ivy Florence Emma Lean
💍 1926/3154

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter
Domestic

22
25

Hastings
Hastings

15 months
25 years

Pukahu Church Pukahu

2090

13 March 1926

Rev. Leich Ewen, Baptist

No	20
Date of Notice	13 March 1926
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Henry Ralph Heywood	Ivy Florence Enna Lean
BDM Match (95%)	Henry Ralph Heywood	Ivy Florence Emma Lean
	💍 1926/3154
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Domestic
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Hastings	Hastings
Length of Residence	15 months	25 years
Marriage Place	Pukahu Church Pukahu
Folio	2090
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 March 1926
Officiating Minister	Rev. Leich Ewen, 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).