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 502

District of Dargaville Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. Weber

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

3 February 1920

Patrick Diamond
Lottie Marie Laurent

Patrick Diamond
Lottie Marie Laurent
💍 1920/4494

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawmiller
Domestic

32
22

Dargaville
Aratapu

6 months
10 months

Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare

876

3 February 1920

Rev G. W. van Dijk, Roman Catholic

No	6
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Patrick Diamond	Lottie Marie Laurent
	💍 1920/4494
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawmiller	Domestic
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Aratapu
Length of Residence	6 months	10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare
Folio	876
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. van Dijk, Roman Catholic

5 February 1920

Edward Barker
Ethel Victoria Jeffs

Edward Parker
Ethel Victoria Jeffs
💍 1920/4950

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic

31
25

Pukehina
Devonport

6 years
2 months

Church of England, Devonport

2250

5 February 1920

Rev L. L. Cubitt, Church of England

No	7
Date of Notice	5 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Barker	Ethel Victoria Jeffs
BDM Match (96%)	Edward Parker	Ethel Victoria Jeffs
	💍 1920/4950
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic
Age	31	25
Dwelling Place	Pukehina	Devonport
Length of Residence	6 years	2 months
Marriage Place	Church of England, Devonport
Folio	2250
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev L. L. Cubitt, Church of England

9 February 1920

John Andrew Hammar
Gertrude Marchbanks

John Andrew Fannon
Gertrude Marchbanks
💍 1920/4501

Bachelor
Spinster

Tailor
Tailoress

37
31

Dargaville
Mangawhare

8 years
27 years

Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare

877

9 February 1920

Rev G. W. van Dijk, Roman Catholic

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Andrew Hammar	Gertrude Marchbanks
BDM Match (86%)	John Andrew Fannon	Gertrude Marchbanks
	💍 1920/4501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Tailor	Tailoress
Age	37	31
Dwelling Place	Dargaville	Mangawhare
Length of Residence	8 years	27 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Mangawhare
Folio	877
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G. W. van Dijk, Roman Catholic

12 February 1920

Alexander Thomas Pollock
Allene Annie Ruddell

Alexander Thomas Pollock
Allene Annie Ruddell
💍 1920/4502

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Parakao
Pakotai

11 years
19 years

Public School, Pakotai

878

George Kenneth Ruddell (Father)

12 February 1920

Rev G. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	12 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Thomas Pollock	Allene Annie Ruddell
	💍 1920/4502
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Parakao	Pakotai
Length of Residence	11 years	19 years
Marriage Place	Public School, Pakotai
Folio	878
Consent	George Kenneth Ruddell (Father)
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev G. Lochore, Presbyterian

18 March 1920

John Charles Clark
Jeannie Gorrie

John Charles Clark
Jeannie Gorrie
💍 1920/4503

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Typiste

38
30

Tutamoe
Tutamoe

3 days
3 weeks

Residence of Thomas Lennox Gorrie, Tutamoe

879

18 March 1920

Rev W. B. Black, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	18 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Charles Clark	Jeannie Gorrie
	💍 1920/4503
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Typiste
Age	38	30
Dwelling Place	Tutamoe	Tutamoe
Length of Residence	3 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Residence of Thomas Lennox Gorrie, Tutamoe
Folio	879
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. B. Black, 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).