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 549

District of Gisborne Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar Henry Ewart Hill

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

114

19 July 1920

John Knowles
Dorothy Kate Dodunski

John Knowles
Dorothy Kate Dodunski
💍 1920/8049

Bachelor
Spinster

Restaurateur
Cook

36
18

Gisborne
Gisborne

10 months
12 months

The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7787

Mary Elizabeth Dodunski, Mother

19 July 1920

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	114
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Knowles	Dorothy Kate Dodunski
	💍 1920/8049
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Restaurateur	Cook
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	10 months	12 months
Marriage Place	The Office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	7787
Consent	Mary Elizabeth Dodunski, Mother
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

115

19 July 1920

John Alexander Anderson
Annie Carruthers

John Alexander Anderson
Annie Carruthers
💍 1920/8050

Bachelor
Widow (November 16th 1918)

Draper
Restaurant Keeper

41
39

Gisborne
Gisborne

6 years
12 years

Methodist Parsonage, Palmerston Road, Gisborne

7788

19 July 1920

Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist Minister

No	115
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Alexander Anderson	Annie Carruthers
	💍 1920/8050
Condition	Bachelor	Widow (November 16th 1918)
Profession	Draper	Restaurant Keeper
Age	41	39
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Parsonage, Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	7788
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist Minister

116

20 July 1920

Charles Albert McWhirter
Ethel Amelia Parker

Charles Albert McWhirter
Ethel Amelia Parker
💍 1920/8051

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd
Domestic duties

33
28

Gisborne
Gisborne

4 days
4 days

The Residence of Mrs J. Honan, Rutene Road, Kaiti, Gisborne

7789

20 July 1920

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

No	116
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Albert McWhirter	Ethel Amelia Parker
	💍 1920/8051
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd	Domestic duties
Age	33	28
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	The Residence of Mrs J. Honan, Rutene Road, Kaiti, Gisborne
Folio	7789
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic Minister

117

20 July 1920

Hugh John Mills
Jessie McEwan

Hugh John Mills
Jessie McEwan
💍 1920/8052

Bachelor
Spinster

Surfaceman New Zealand Railways (Returned Soldier)

33
19

Ratauroa
Gisborne

9 years
7 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Manse, Gisborne

7790

Deborah McEwan, Mother

20 July 1920

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian

No	117
Date of Notice	20 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hugh John Mills	Jessie McEwan
	💍 1920/8052
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surfaceman New Zealand Railways (Returned Soldier)
Age	33	19
Dwelling Place	Ratauroa	Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	7 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Manse, Gisborne
Folio	7790
Consent	Deborah McEwan, Mother
Date of Certificate	20 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian

118

23 July 1920

George Mooney
Ethel Marabel Froker

George Mooney
Ethel Marabel Croker
💍 1920/8053

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineman
Domestic duties

32
21

Gisborne
Gisborne

1 week
10 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne

7791

23 July 1920

Rev. James Aitken, Presbyterian

No	118
Date of Notice	23 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Mooney	Ethel Marabel Froker
BDM Match (98%)	George Mooney	Ethel Marabel Croker
	💍 1920/8053
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineman	Domestic duties
Age	32	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	1 week	10 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Gisborne
Folio	7791
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. James Aitken, 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).

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).