Intentions to Marry, 1920 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840490, 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.

1920c contains pages 939-1398, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 947

District of Rawene Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. S. Mathews

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

6 January 1920

Theodore Leslie Taylor
Edna Joyce Griesbach

Theodore Leslie Taylor
Edna Joyce Greisbach
💍 1920/4564

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer at Timber mill
Domestic Duties

20
22

Rawene
Rawene

4 years
2 years

Office of the Registrar Rawene

1015

William Evans Taylor, Father

6 January 1920

A. S. Mathews, Registrar

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Theodore Leslie Taylor	Edna Joyce Griesbach
BDM Match (95%)	Theodore Leslie Taylor	Edna Joyce Greisbach
	💍 1920/4564
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer at Timber mill	Domestic Duties
Age	20	22
Dwelling Place	Rawene	Rawene
Length of Residence	4 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Office of the Registrar Rawene
Folio	1015
Consent	William Evans Taylor, Father
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	A. S. Mathews, Registrar

24 January 1920

Edward Bernard Howe
Catherine Louisa Bertha Martin

Edward Bernard Howe
Catherine Louisa Bertha Martin
💍 1920/4565

Bachelor
Spinster

Launchman
Tailoress

23
18

Rawene
Rawene

28 years
10 months

Roman Catholic Church Rawene

1016

Oscar Robert Martin, Father

24 January 1920

Rev A. J. Bowen, Roman Catholic

No	2
Date of Notice	24 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bernard Howe	Catherine Louisa Bertha Martin
	💍 1920/4565
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Launchman	Tailoress
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Rawene	Rawene
Length of Residence	28 years	10 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rawene
Folio	1016
Consent	Oscar Robert Martin, Father
Date of Certificate	24 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Bowen, Roman Catholic

12 February 1920

Bertram Penney
Rita Queenin

Bertram Penney
Rita Queenin
💍 1920/4566

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic duties

28
25

Whangarei
Horeke

7 months
9 years

Catholic Church Okaihau

1017

12 February 1920

Rev A. J. Bowen, Roman Catholic

No	3
Date of Notice	12 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Bertram Penney	Rita Queenin
	💍 1920/4566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic duties
Age	28	25
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Horeke
Length of Residence	7 months	9 years
Marriage Place	Catholic Church Okaihau
Folio	1017
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev A. J. Bowen, Roman Catholic

14 February 1920

Percy Evans Taylor
Leonora May Curry

Percy Evans Taylor
Leonora May Curry
💍 1920/4567

Bachelor
Spinster

Sawyer
Domestic

23
18

Rawene
Rawene

2 years
5 years

Roman Catholic Church Rawene

1018

Mary Ann Curry, mother

14 February 1920

Rev C. Kreymborg, Roman Catholic

No	4
Date of Notice	14 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Evans Taylor	Leonora May Curry
	💍 1920/4567
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Sawyer	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Rawene	Rawene
Length of Residence	2 years	5 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Rawene
Folio	1018
Consent	Mary Ann Curry, mother
Date of Certificate	14 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C. Kreymborg, Roman Catholic

16 March 1920

Harry Stanley George Scrivens Rings
Lilian Annie Lane

Harry Stanley George Scrivens Rings
Lilian Annie Lane
💍 1920/4568

Bachelor
Spinster

Home missionary
Domestic duties

29
29

Rawene
Rawene

5 years
10 years

Methodist Church Rawene

1019

16 March 1920

Rev T. G. Brooke, Methodist

No	5
Date of Notice	16 March 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Stanley George Scrivens Rings	Lilian Annie Lane
	💍 1920/4568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Home missionary	Domestic duties
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Rawene	Rawene
Length of Residence	5 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Rawene
Folio	1019
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 March 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev T. G. Brooke, Methodist

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).