Intentions to Marry, 1927 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840545, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1927 is bound in four volumes (a to d) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1927b contains pages 927-1804, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1753

District of Palmerston North Quarter ending 31 March 1927

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

12 January 1927

Norman Peter Hanson
Mary Frances Leith Stuart

Norman Peter Hanson
Mary Frances Leith Stuart
💍 1927/1266

Bachelor
Spinster

Hardware Salesman

28
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

19 years
6 years

All Saints Church

2002

12 January 1927

Rev. H. Kenney, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	12 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Peter Hanson	Mary Frances Leith Stuart
	💍 1927/1266
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hardware Salesman
Age	28	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	19 years	6 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church
Folio	2002
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Kenney, Anglican

13 January 1927

Rodney Lee
Mona Morris

Rodney Lee
Mona Morris
💍 1927/1273

Widower (August 1918)
Spinster

Slaughterman

34
24

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

3 weeks
5 weeks

St. Pauls Parsonage, 278 Church Street, Palmerston North

2003

13 January 1927

Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

No	12
Date of Notice	13 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Rodney Lee	Mona Morris
	💍 1927/1273
Condition	Widower (August 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Slaughterman
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	3 weeks	5 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Pauls Parsonage, 278 Church Street, Palmerston North
Folio	2003
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, Methodist

13 January 1927

Matthew Tremain
Lilian Hazel Whitehead

Matthew Tremain
Lilian Hazel Whitehead
💍 1927/1274

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor Driver

25
24

Wanganui
Palmerston North

4 months
life

Residence of Mrs A. E. Whitehead, 9 Botanical Road, Palmerston North

2004

13 January 1927

Rev. W. H. Ashmore, United Evangelical

No	13
Date of Notice	13 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Matthew Tremain	Lilian Hazel Whitehead
	💍 1927/1274
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor Driver
Age	25	24
Dwelling Place	Wanganui	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 months	life
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs A. E. Whitehead, 9 Botanical Road, Palmerston North
Folio	2004
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. H. Ashmore, United Evangelical

14 January 1927

Frank Henry Garner
Dorothy May Passey

Frank Henry Garner
Dorothy May Passey
💍 1927/1275

Bachelor
Spinster

Teacher

26
25

Liakitahuna
Liakitahuna

9 months
2 years

All Saints Church, Palmerston North

2005

14 January 1927

Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	14 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Frank Henry Garner	Dorothy May Passey
	💍 1927/1275
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Teacher
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Liakitahuna	Liakitahuna
Length of Residence	9 months	2 years
Marriage Place	All Saints Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2005
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Dent, Anglican

18 January 1927

Sydney James Adrian Busst
Dorothy Agnes Davenport

Sydney James Adrian Busst
Dorothy Agnes Davenport
💍 1927/1276

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

23
21

Palmerston North
Palmerston North

4 years
10 years

St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North

2006

18 January 1927

Rev. R. Inglis, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	18 January 1927
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sydney James Adrian Busst	Dorothy Agnes Davenport
	💍 1927/1276
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Palmerston North
Length of Residence	4 years	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Church, Palmerston North
Folio	2006
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 January 1927
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. Inglis, 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).