Intentions to Marry, 1920 Albertland to Awhitu

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840488, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 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.

1920a contains pages 1-470, covering districts from Albertland to Awhitu

Page 208

District of Auckland Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar J. H. Culthorpe

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

996

11 June 1920

John Henry Willis
Aileen Ethel Suger

John Henry Willis
Aileen Ethel Inger
💍 1920/624

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor's Presser

21
25

Auckland
Auckland

8 years
19 years

St. Paul's Church Devonport Auckland

4359

11 June 1920

G. Budd

No	996
Date of Notice	11 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Henry Willis	Aileen Ethel Suger
BDM Match (94%)	John Henry Willis	Aileen Ethel Inger
	💍 1920/624
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor's Presser
Age	21	25
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	8 years	19 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Church Devonport Auckland
Folio	4359
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	G. Budd

997

11 June 1920

Robert Finlay Geddes
Rose Olive Andrews

Robert Finlay Geddes
Rose Olive Andrews
💍 1920/625

Widower 30 July 1917
Spinster

Clerk in Holy Orders

29
28

Otorohanga
Auckland

10 months
15 years

Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland

4360

11 June 1920

E. Lush

No	997
Date of Notice	11 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Finlay Geddes	Rose Olive Andrews
	💍 1920/625
Condition	Widower 30 July 1917	Spinster
Profession	Clerk in Holy Orders
Age	29	28
Dwelling Place	Otorohanga	Auckland
Length of Residence	10 months	15 years
Marriage Place	Church of the Holy Sepulchre Auckland
Folio	4360
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	E. Lush

998

11 June 1920

James Williamson
Emily Ethel Richardson

James Williamson
Emily Ethel Richardson
💍 1920/626

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor

43
32

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
2 months

St. Barnabas' Church Mt. Eden Auckland

4361

11 June 1920

E. J. McFarland

No	998
Date of Notice	11 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Williamson	Emily Ethel Richardson
	💍 1920/626
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor
Age	43	32
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	2 months
Marriage Place	St. Barnabas' Church Mt. Eden Auckland
Folio	4361
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	E. J. McFarland

999

11 June 1920

Emanuel Newton
Christina Douglass Reid

Emanuel Newton
Christina Douglas Reid
💍 1920/603

Bachelor
Divorced decree absolute 27 May 1920 Auckland

Labourer

39
39

Auckland
Auckland

16 years
20 years

Methodist Church Pitt Street Auckland

4362

11 June 1920

P. N. Knight

No	999
Date of Notice	11 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Emanuel Newton	Christina Douglass Reid
BDM Match (98%)	Emanuel Newton	Christina Douglas Reid
	💍 1920/603
Condition	Bachelor	Divorced decree absolute 27 May 1920 Auckland
Profession	Labourer
Age	39	39
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	16 years	20 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Pitt Street Auckland
Folio	4362
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	P. N. Knight

1000

11 June 1920

William Austin Middleton
Elizabeth Jones

William Austin Middleton
Elizabeth Jones
💍 1920/604

Divorced decree absolute 8 Aug. 1913
Widow 30 March 1917

Farmer

38
30

Auckland
Auckland

3 days
10 years

Residence of Mr. C. Hankerolis 16 Albany Road Auckland

4363

11 June 1920

E. T. Cox

No	1000
Date of Notice	11 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Austin Middleton	Elizabeth Jones
	💍 1920/604
Condition	Divorced decree absolute 8 Aug. 1913	Widow 30 March 1917
Profession	Farmer
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Auckland	Auckland
Length of Residence	3 days	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr. C. Hankerolis 16 Albany Road Auckland
Folio	4363
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 June 1920
Officiating Minister	E. T. Cox

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).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

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.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

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).