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 889

District of Owhango Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar G. L. M. King

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

30 March 1920

William Jens Petersen
Margaret Josephine Brown

William Jens Petersen
Margaret Josephine Brown
💍 1920/5533

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw mill hand
Farmer's Daughter

20
16

Kakahi
Owhango

20 years
16 years

Residence of J. Brown

W. J. Petersen Father (groom) & B. Brown Father (bride)

30 March 1920

Rev. A. Kempthorne

No	4
Date of Notice	30 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Jens Petersen	Margaret Josephine Brown
	💍 1920/5533
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw mill hand	Farmer's Daughter
Age	20	16
Dwelling Place	Kakahi	Owhango
Length of Residence	20 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. Brown
Folio
Consent	W. J. Petersen Father (groom) & B. Brown Father (bride)
Date of Certificate	30 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Kempthorne

8 May 1920

John Dinsdale
Elizabeth May Olsen

John Dinsdale
Elizabeth May Olsen
💍 1920/1294

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

36
18

Piriaka
Kakahi

10 years
10 years

Residence of E. S. Olsen, Kakahi

4895

E. S. Olsen Mother

8 May 1920

Rev. J. G. Ward

No	5
Date of Notice	8 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Dinsdale	Elizabeth May Olsen
	💍 1920/1294
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	36	18
Dwelling Place	Piriaka	Kakahi
Length of Residence	10 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Residence of E. S. Olsen, Kakahi
Folio	4895
Consent	E. S. Olsen Mother
Date of Certificate	8 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Ward

29 May 1920

John Ferguson Ferrand
Margaret Dickson Arneil

John Fergusson Gerrand
Margaret Arneil
💍 1920/1156

Bachelor
Spinster (Widow 16/10/1917)

Bushman
Domestic Duties

42
32

Taumarunui
Owhango

4 months
4 months

Registrar's Office Taumarunui

4933

29 May 1920

Registrar Taumarunui

No	6
Date of Notice	29 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Ferguson Ferrand	Margaret Dickson Arneil
BDM Match (78%)	John Fergusson Gerrand	Margaret Arneil
	💍 1920/1156
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster (Widow 16/10/1917)
Profession	Bushman	Domestic Duties
Age	42	32
Dwelling Place	Taumarunui	Owhango
Length of Residence	4 months	4 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Taumarunui
Folio	4933
Consent
Date of Certificate	29 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Registrar Taumarunui

15 June 1920

Harold Oscar Amundsen
Fanny Constance Williams

Harold Oscar Amundsen
Fanny Constance Williams
💍 1920/1295

Bachelor
Spinster

Bushman
Civil Servant

24
25

Owhango
Owhango

1 year
1 year 5 months

Residence of A. B. Amundsen Owhango

4896

15 June 1920

Rev. J. G. Ward

No	7
Date of Notice	15 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harold Oscar Amundsen	Fanny Constance Williams
	💍 1920/1295
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bushman	Civil Servant
Age	24	25
Dwelling Place	Owhango	Owhango
Length of Residence	1 year	1 year 5 months
Marriage Place	Residence of A. B. Amundsen Owhango
Folio	4896
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Ward

25 June 1920

Arthur Nicholls
Marion Sarah Merrutin

Arthur Nicholls
Marion Edith Merrikin
💍 1920/6703

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
24

Kaitieke
Raurimu

9 years
8 years

Church of England Raurimu

6373

25 June 1920

W. J. Weller

No	8
Date of Notice	25 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Nicholls	Marion Sarah Merrutin
BDM Match (86%)	Arthur Nicholls	Marion Edith Merrikin
	💍 1920/6703
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Kaitieke	Raurimu
Length of Residence	9 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Raurimu
Folio	6373
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 June 1920
Officiating Minister	W. J. Weller

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

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).