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 605

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar A. Stott

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

119

24 July 1920

Keith Fitzgerald Haszard
Jane Black Christie

Keith Fitzgerald Haszard
Jane Black Christie
💍 1920/8095

Bachelor
Spinster

Surveyor

28
28

Hamilton
Hamilton

4 days
6 years

St. Andrews' Presbyterian Church Claudelands Hamilton

7851

24 July 1920

Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	119
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Keith Fitzgerald Haszard	Jane Black Christie
	💍 1920/8095
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Surveyor
Age	28	28
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	4 days	6 years
Marriage Place	St. Andrews' Presbyterian Church Claudelands Hamilton
Folio	7851
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

120

26 July 1920

Allan McLachlan
Marion Maude Duck

Allan McLachlan
Marion Maude Duck
💍 1920/8106

Bachelor
Spinster

Musician

31
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 years
12 years

Registrars Office Hamilton

7852

26 July 1920

A. Stott, Registrar

No	120
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Allan McLachlan	Marion Maude Duck
	💍 1920/8106
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Musician
Age	31	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Hamilton
Folio	7852
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	A. Stott, Registrar

121

27 July 1920

George Henry Nicholson
Francis Vida Vowles

George Henry Nicholson
Frances Fida Vowles
💍 1920/8113

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 months
6 months

St. Peter's Anglican Church Hamilton

7853

27 July 1920

E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	121
Date of Notice	27 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Henry Nicholson	Francis Vida Vowles
BDM Match (95%)	George Henry Nicholson	Frances Fida Vowles
	💍 1920/8113
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 months	6 months
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church Hamilton
Folio	7853
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 July 1920
Officiating Minister	E. M. Cowie, Anglican

122

31 July 1920

Ranulph George Dacre
Evelyn Maud Edwards

Ranulph George Dacre
Evelyn Maude Edwards
💍 1920/8114

Divorced Decree absolute 10 July 1920
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Clerk

42
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
5 years

H. D. Cobbs' Residence Claudelands Hamilton

7854

31 July 1920

H. Ford, Methodist

No	122
Date of Notice	31 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Ranulph George Dacre	Evelyn Maud Edwards
BDM Match (98%)	Ranulph George Dacre	Evelyn Maude Edwards
	💍 1920/8114
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 10 July 1920	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Clerk
Age	42	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	5 years
Marriage Place	H. D. Cobbs' Residence Claudelands Hamilton
Folio	7854
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Ford, Methodist

123

28 July 1920

Herbert Rudolph Stowell
Estelle Annie Burdett

Herbert Rudolph Stowell
Estelle Annie Burdett
💍 1920/6932

Widower 7/12/1918
Widow 3/4/1918

Railway Employee

35
35

Frankton Junction
Devonport Auckland

7 years
12 years

Registrars office Auckland

6581

31 July 1920

Registrar, Auckland

No	123
Date of Notice	28 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Rudolph Stowell	Estelle Annie Burdett
	💍 1920/6932
Condition	Widower 7/12/1918	Widow 3/4/1918
Profession	Railway Employee
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Devonport Auckland
Length of Residence	7 years	12 years
Marriage Place	Registrars office Auckland
Folio	6581
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar, Auckland

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).