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 555

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

144

7 September 1920

Charles Herbert Smith
Jessie Sadie Brown

Charles Herbert Smith
Jessie Sadie Brown
💍 1920/7931

Divorced (Decree absolute dated 23 February 1920)
Spinster

Joiner
Domestic duties

37
35

Gisborne
Gisborne

2 years
2 years

The Methodist Parsonage, 351 Palmerston Road, Gisborne

7817

7 September 1920

Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

No	144
Date of Notice	7 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Herbert Smith	Jessie Sadie Brown
	💍 1920/7931
Condition	Divorced (Decree absolute dated 23 February 1920)	Spinster
Profession	Joiner	Domestic duties
Age	37	35
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	2 years	2 years
Marriage Place	The Methodist Parsonage, 351 Palmerston Road, Gisborne
Folio	7817
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

145

7 September 1920

John Bell
Olive Monson

John Bell
Olive Monson
💍 1920/7932

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy farmer
Millinery Buyer

35
29

Kaiti, Gisborne
Kaiti, Gisborne

9 years
9 months

The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne

7818

7 September 1920

Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

No	145
Date of Notice	7 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Bell	Olive Monson
	💍 1920/7932
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy farmer	Millinery Buyer
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Kaiti, Gisborne	Kaiti, Gisborne
Length of Residence	9 years	9 months
Marriage Place	The Methodist Church, Bright Street, Gisborne
Folio	7818
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Herbert Emanuel Abbey, Methodist

146

8 September 1920

Arthur Thatcher
Harata Waru

Arthur Thatcher
Harata Waru
💍 1920/7933

Widower (6 March 1915)
Spinster

Shearer
Home duties

44
21

Gisborne (Hauiti)
Gisborne (Hauiti)

5 days (Hauiti), 15 years (Gisborne)
5 days (Hauiti), 5 years (Gisborne)

The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

7819

8 September 1920

Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

No	146
Date of Notice	8 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Thatcher	Harata Waru
	💍 1920/7933
Condition	Widower (6 March 1915)	Spinster
Profession	Shearer	Home duties
Age	44	21
Dwelling Place	Gisborne (Hauiti)	Gisborne (Hauiti)
Length of Residence	5 days (Hauiti), 15 years (Gisborne)	5 days (Hauiti), 5 years (Gisborne)
Marriage Place	The office of the Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne
Folio	7819
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Henry Ewart Hill, Registrar of Marriages, Gisborne

147

9 September 1920

Thomas Gilbert Dominey
Norah Shean

Thomas Gilbert Dominey
Norah Shean
💍 1920/7934

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Home duties

23
20

Gisborne
Gisborne

7 years
20 years

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne

7820

9 September 1920

Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

No	147
Date of Notice	9 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Gilbert Dominey	Norah Shean
	💍 1920/7934
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Home duties
Age	23	20
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	7 years	20 years
Marriage Place	St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Gisborne
Folio	7820
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Thomas Lane, Roman Catholic

148

10 September 1920

Herbert George Thorpe
Ellen Thompson Robb

Herbert George Thorpe
Ellen Thompstone Robb
💍 1920/7936

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer (Returned soldier)
Clerk

27
27

Gisborne
Gisborne

3 days
Life

Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne

7821

10 September 1920

Rev. William Tasman Drake, Church of England

No	148
Date of Notice	10 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert George Thorpe	Ellen Thompson Robb
BDM Match (95%)	Herbert George Thorpe	Ellen Thompstone Robb
	💍 1920/7936
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer (Returned soldier)	Clerk
Age	27	27
Dwelling Place	Gisborne	Gisborne
Length of Residence	3 days	Life
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church of England, Gisborne
Folio	7821
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. William Tasman Drake, 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).