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 609

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

139

31 August 1920

Thomas Samuel Alexandra Chestnut
Ida Mayefield Ramsey

Thomas Samuel Alexandra Chestnut
Ida Mansfield Ramsay
💍 1920/8105

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

21
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands, Hamilton

7869

31 August 1920

Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	139
Date of Notice	31 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Samuel Alexandra Chestnut	Ida Mayefield Ramsey
BDM Match (93%)	Thomas Samuel Alexandra Chestnut	Ida Mansfield Ramsay
	💍 1920/8105
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands, Hamilton
Folio	7869
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

140

2 September 1920

Victor Manuel
Minnie Hinton

Victor Manuel
Minnie Hinton
💍 1920/8107

Bachelor
Spinster

Land owner
Household duties

23
24

Hamilton
Hamilton

17 years
13 years

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

7870

2 September 1920

A. Stott, Registrar

No	140
Date of Notice	2 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Victor Manuel	Minnie Hinton
	💍 1920/8107
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Land owner	Household duties
Age	23	24
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	17 years	13 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	7870
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 September 1920
Officiating Minister	A. Stott, Registrar

141

6 September 1920

Arthur Leslie Fow
Aileen Myrtle Chapman

Arthur Leslie Fow
Aileen Myrtle Chapman
💍 1920/8108

Bachelor
Spinster

Auctioneer's Clerk

23
21

Hamilton
Hamilton

15 years
10 years

Methodist Church, Hamilton

7871

6 September 1920

E. T. Olds, Methodist

No	141
Date of Notice	6 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leslie Fow	Aileen Myrtle Chapman
	💍 1920/8108
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Auctioneer's Clerk
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	15 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hamilton
Folio	7871
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1920
Officiating Minister	E. T. Olds, Methodist

142

9 September 1920

Philip William Cantwell
Doris Myrtle Halcrow

Philip William Cantwell
Doris Myrtle Halcrow
💍 1920/8109

Bachelor
Spinster

Telegraphist

27
24

Frankton Junction
Frankton Junction

9 months
10 years

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

7872

9 September 1920

E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	142
Date of Notice	9 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip William Cantwell	Doris Myrtle Halcrow
	💍 1920/8109
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Telegraphist
Age	27	24
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Frankton Junction
Length of Residence	9 months	10 years
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	7872
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 September 1920
Officiating Minister	E. M. Cowie, Anglican

143

11 September 1920

Edwin John Wattridge
Emily Maud Wanty

Edwin John Wattridge
Emily Maud Wanty
💍 1920/8110

Widower
Spinster

Builders Foreman
Dressmaker

44
36

Hamilton
Hamilton

6 months
7 days

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

7873

11 September 1920

A. Stott, Registrar

No	143
Date of Notice	11 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edwin John Wattridge	Emily Maud Wanty
	💍 1920/8110
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Builders Foreman	Dressmaker
Age	44	36
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	6 months	7 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	7873
Consent
Date of Certificate	11 September 1920
Officiating Minister	A. Stott, Registrar

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).