Intentions to Marry, 1920 Bay of Islands to Raglan

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840489, 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.

1920b contains pages 471-938, covering districts from Bay of Islands to Raglan

Page 505

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar A. G. Wilson

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

19 April 1920

George Knightmore Oldfield
Annie Adelaide Smith

George Brightmore Oldfield
Annie Adelaide Smith
💍 1920/948

Bachelor
Spinster

Schoolteacher
Domestic

21
21

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

3 days
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare

4704

19 April 1920

Rev. G. W. Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

No	13
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Knightmore Oldfield	Annie Adelaide Smith
BDM Match (96%)	George Brightmore Oldfield	Annie Adelaide Smith
	💍 1920/948
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Schoolteacher	Domestic
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	3 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare
Folio	4704
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Van Dijk, Roman Catholic

29 April 1920

Ernest Rudolph Ballantyne Milburn
Hazel Mary Duff

Ernest Rudolph Ballantyne McCoy
Hazel Mary Duff
💍 1920/959

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor mechanic
Domestic

23
18

Mangawhare
Mangawhare

1 month
7 years

Office of Registrar of Marriages, Dargaville

4705

Annie Elizabeth Rogers (formaly Duff), mother

29 April 1920

A. G. Wilson, Registrar

No	14
Date of Notice	29 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ernest Rudolph Ballantyne Milburn	Hazel Mary Duff
BDM Match (91%)	Ernest Rudolph Ballantyne McCoy	Hazel Mary Duff
	💍 1920/959
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor mechanic	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	1 month	7 years
Marriage Place	Office of Registrar of Marriages, Dargaville
Folio	4705
Consent	Annie Elizabeth Rogers (formaly Duff), mother
Date of Certificate	29 April 1920
Officiating Minister	A. G. Wilson, Registrar

1 May 1920

Edward Amos Eyes
Margaret Mary Kolarber

Edward Amos Eyes
Margaret May Holster
💍 1920/966

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
22

Houto
Houto

3 years
17 years

Residence of Mrs. W. Kolarber, Houto

4706

1 May 1920

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	1 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Amos Eyes	Margaret Mary Kolarber
BDM Match (89%)	Edward Amos Eyes	Margaret May Holster
	💍 1920/966
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	22
Dwelling Place	Houto	Houto
Length of Residence	3 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mrs. W. Kolarber, Houto
Folio	4706
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

18 May 1920

Harry Lawrence
Elsie Muriel O'Hara

Harry Lawrence
Elsie Muriel O'Hara
💍 1920/967

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Factory Assistant
Domestic

31
21

Mangawhare
Dargaville

10 months
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Dargaville

4707

18 May 1920

Rev. W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	16
Date of Notice	18 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Lawrence	Elsie Muriel O'Hara
	💍 1920/967
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Factory Assistant	Domestic
Age	31	21
Dwelling Place	Mangawhare	Dargaville
Length of Residence	10 months	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Dargaville
Folio	4707
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. B. Black, Presbyterian

20 May 1920

Leopold Norman Roberts
Evelyn Maud Foster

Leopold Norman Roberts
Evelyn Maud Foster
💍 1920/968

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

37
33

Dargaville
Dargaville

9 months
1 year

Church of England, Dargaville

4708

20 May 1920

Rev. H. M. Smyth, Church of England

No	17
Date of Notice	20 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leopold Norman Roberts	Evelyn Maud Foster
	💍 1920/968
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	37	33
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Dargaville
Length of Residence	9 months	1 year
Marriage Place	Church of England, Dargaville
Folio	4708
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. M. Smyth, 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).

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).