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 829

District of Ngaruawahia Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. M. Morris

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

12 July 1920

Arthur Henry Currie
Una Marie La Trobe

Arthur Henry Currie
Una Marie La Trobe
💍 1920/8133

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairy Employee
Domestic Duties

34 years
25 years

Frankton Junction
Te Kowhai

10 months
11 months

Anglican Church, Te Kowhai

7922

12 July 1920

Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

No	8
Date of Notice	12 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Henry Currie	Una Marie La Trobe
	💍 1920/8133
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairy Employee	Domestic Duties
Age	34 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Frankton Junction	Te Kowhai
Length of Residence	10 months	11 months
Marriage Place	Anglican Church, Te Kowhai
Folio	7922
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

26 July 1920

Albert Breeven
Laura Grace Lynch

Albert Brewer
Laural Grace Lynch
💍 1920/8134

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter and Decorator
Domestic Duties

32 years
24 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

6 years
24 years

Holy Trinity Church, Ngaruawahia

7923

26 July 1920

Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

No	9
Date of Notice	26 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Breeven	Laura Grace Lynch
BDM Match (87%)	Albert Brewer	Laural Grace Lynch
	💍 1920/8134
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter and Decorator	Domestic Duties
Age	32 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	6 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	7923
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

6 August 1920

Selwyn John Wilson
Gertrude Waring

Selwyn John Wilson
Gertrude Daring
💍 1920/8135

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

28 years
24 years

Taupiri
Taupiri

20 years
24 years

Christ Church, Church of England, Taupiri

7924

6 August 1920

Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	6 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Selwyn John Wilson	Gertrude Waring
BDM Match (97%)	Selwyn John Wilson	Gertrude Daring
	💍 1920/8135
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	28 years	24 years
Dwelling Place	Taupiri	Taupiri
Length of Residence	20 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Christ Church, Church of England, Taupiri
Folio	7924
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C F R Harrison, Church of England

6 September 1920

Robert Henry Gray
Hannah Feeney

Robert Henry Gray
Hannah Feeney
💍 1920/12445

Bachelor
Spinster

Civil Servant
Matron in Prison service

33 years
33 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

3 days
7 days

Roman Catholic Church, Ngaruawahia

7925

6 September 1920

Rev John O'Hara, Roman Catholic

No	11
Date of Notice	6 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Henry Gray	Hannah Feeney
	💍 1920/12445
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Civil Servant	Matron in Prison service
Age	33 years	33 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	3 days	7 days
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	7925
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev John O'Hara, Roman Catholic

18 September 1920

Tony Niskovich
Nina Milicent Evans

Tony Viskovich
Vina Millicent Evans
💍 1920/8143

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Factory worker

27 years
25 years

Ngaruawahia
Ngaruawahia

one week
4 days

Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia

7926

18 September 1920

Rev J Chalmers Hill, Presbyterian

No	12
Date of Notice	18 September 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Tony Niskovich	Nina Milicent Evans
BDM Match (91%)	Tony Viskovich	Vina Millicent Evans
	💍 1920/8143
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Factory worker
Age	27 years	25 years
Dwelling Place	Ngaruawahia	Ngaruawahia
Length of Residence	one week	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Ngaruawahia
Folio	7926
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 September 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J Chalmers Hill, 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).