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 612

District of Hamilton Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar F. W. Morton

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

154

13 October 1920

Alfred George Lizora Porter
Olive Rosina Forsman

Alfred George Tizora Porter
Olive Rosina Forsman
💍 1920/11464

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

22
22

Te Kowhai
Gordonton

15 months
3 months

Methodist Church, Hamilton

10785

13 October 1920

W. A. Porter, Methodist

No	154
Date of Notice	13 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alfred George Lizora Porter	Olive Rosina Forsman
BDM Match (98%)	Alfred George Tizora Porter	Olive Rosina Forsman
	💍 1920/11464
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Te Kowhai	Gordonton
Length of Residence	15 months	3 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Hamilton
Folio	10785
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 October 1920
Officiating Minister	W. A. Porter, Methodist

155

14 October 1920

Basil Stanislaus Brogan
Violet Irene Terry

Basil Stanislaus Brogan
Violet Irene Terry
💍 1920/11465

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk

21
20

Hamilton
Hamilton

7 years
5 years

St. Elmo Private Hotel, Opera Road, Claudelands, Hamilton

10786

Ada Terry, mother

14 October 1920

H. Ford, Methodist

No	155
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Basil Stanislaus Brogan	Violet Irene Terry
	💍 1920/11465
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	7 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Elmo Private Hotel, Opera Road, Claudelands, Hamilton
Folio	10786
Consent	Ada Terry, mother
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	H. Ford, Methodist

156

14 October 1920

William Edward James
Mary Gertrude Low Aughton

William Edward James
Mary Gertrude Low Aughton
💍 1920/11467

Divorced Decree absolute 19/6/1906
Widow 20/8/1915

Carpenter

46
32

Hamilton
Hamilton

18 months
3 months

St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands, Hamilton

10787

14 October 1920

Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

No	156
Date of Notice	14 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edward James	Mary Gertrude Low Aughton
	💍 1920/11467
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 19/6/1906	Widow 20/8/1915
Profession	Carpenter
Age	46	32
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	18 months	3 months
Marriage Place	St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Claudelands, Hamilton
Folio	10787
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Robt. Mackie, Presbyterian

157

22 October 1920

Thomas Stuart Black
Lilian Billings

Thomas Stuart Black
Lilian Billings
💍 1920/11468

Bachelor
Widow 12/5/1917

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

31
32

Matangi
Hamilton

3 years
3 days

Registrar's Office, Hamilton

10788

22 October 1920

A Stott, Registrar

No	157
Date of Notice	22 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Stuart Black	Lilian Billings
	💍 1920/11468
Condition	Bachelor	Widow 12/5/1917
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Matangi	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Hamilton
Folio	10788
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 October 1920
Officiating Minister	A Stott, Registrar

158

20 October 1920

Joseph William Bell
Olive Ivy Clephane

Joseph William Bell
Olive Ivy Clephane
💍 1920/11469

Bachelor
Spinster

Storeman

19
20

Hamilton
Hamilton

3 days
3 days

St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton

10789

Millicent Harriet Bell mother, Robert Clephane father

20 October 1920

E. M. Cowie, Anglican

No	158
Date of Notice	20 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph William Bell	Olive Ivy Clephane
	💍 1920/11469
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storeman
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Hamilton	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Peter's Anglican Church, Hamilton
Folio	10789
Consent	Millicent Harriet Bell mother, Robert Clephane father
Date of Certificate	20 October 1920
Officiating Minister	E. M. Cowie, Anglican

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).