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 955

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar W. Forrest

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 January 1920

William James Goldsmith
Anna Margueret Koch

William James Goldsmith
Anna Margarette Koch
💍 1920/4570

Bachelor
Spinster

Cook
Domestic

44
29

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 years
5 months

Salvation Army Hall, Rotorua

1020

12 January 1920

Capt. J. W. Shearer, Salvation Army

No	1
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Goldsmith	Anna Margueret Koch
BDM Match (90%)	William James Goldsmith	Anna Margarette Koch
	💍 1920/4570
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cook	Domestic
Age	44	29
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 years	5 months
Marriage Place	Salvation Army Hall, Rotorua
Folio	1020
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Capt. J. W. Shearer, Salvation Army

16 January 1920

William Alexander Patterson
Louie Westcott

William Alexander Patterson
Louie Westcott
💍 1920/4571

Bachelor
Spinster

Blacksmith
Shop Assistant

24
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

7 days
2 weeks

St. Johns Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

1021

16 January 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	16 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Patterson	Louie Westcott
	💍 1920/4571
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Blacksmith	Shop Assistant
Age	24	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	7 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St. Johns Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	1021
Consent
Date of Certificate	16 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

19 January 1920

Francis Henry Billing
Florence Stella Slater Briden

Francis Henry Billing
Florence Stella Harker Briden
💍 1920/4572

Bachelor
Spinster

Bank Clerk
Saleswoman

26
27

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
4 days

St. Johns Presbyterian Church, Rotorua

1022

19 January 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

No	3
Date of Notice	19 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Henry Billing	Florence Stella Slater Briden
BDM Match (93%)	Francis Henry Billing	Florence Stella Harker Briden
	💍 1920/4572
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bank Clerk	Saleswoman
Age	26	27
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	St. Johns Presbyterian Church, Rotorua
Folio	1022
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson, Presbyterian

27 January 1920

William Brown
Frances Rebecca Brown

William Brown
Frances Rebecca Brown
💍 1920/4573

Bachelor
Spinster

Hotel Porter
Domestic

24
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 years
5 years

St. Luke's Church of England, Haupapa St., Rotorua

1023

27 January 1920

Rev. L. L. D. Goertz, Church of England

No	4
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Brown	Frances Rebecca Brown
	💍 1920/4573
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Hotel Porter	Domestic
Age	24	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 years	5 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Haupapa St., Rotorua
Folio	1023
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. L. D. Goertz, Church of England

27 January 1920

William Smith
Ruth Game

William Smith
Ruth Game
💍 1920/4574

Bachelor
Spinster

Bricklayer
Domestic

45
23

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 months
7 months

St. Luke's Church of England, Haupapa St., Rotorua

1024

27 January 1920

Rev. L. L. D. Goertz, Church of England

No	5
Date of Notice	27 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Smith	Ruth Game
	💍 1920/4574
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Bricklayer	Domestic
Age	45	23
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 months	7 months
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Church of England, Haupapa St., Rotorua
Folio	1024
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. L. L. D. Goertz, Church of England

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).