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 963

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar J. Mitchell

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

1 July 1920

Percy Larsen
Manutawhirangi Hall

Percy Larsen
Manutawhirangi Hall
💍 1920/8164

Bachelor
Spinster

Soldier
Domestic

31
26

Rotorua
Rotorua

5 years
26 years

Church of England Ohinemutu

7960

1 July 1920

Rev. H. Munro

No	33
Date of Notice	1 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Percy Larsen	Manutawhirangi Hall
	💍 1920/8164
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Soldier	Domestic
Age	31	26
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	5 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Ohinemutu
Folio	7960
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. Munro

2 July 1920

Hanubery Durant Hammond
Margaret Doris McIntosh Barns

Hanbury Durant Hammond
Margaret Doris McIntosh Barns
💍 1920/8165

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

The Methodist Parsonage Rotorua

7961

Alfred Edward Barns, father

2 July 1920

Rev. P. Batty

No	34
Date of Notice	2 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Hanubery Durant Hammond	Margaret Doris McIntosh Barns
BDM Match (96%)	Hanbury Durant Hammond	Margaret Doris McIntosh Barns
	💍 1920/8165
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	The Methodist Parsonage Rotorua
Folio	7961
Consent	Alfred Edward Barns, father
Date of Certificate	2 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. P. Batty

5 July 1920

John Koa Macpherson
Rangi Marinus

John Koa Macpherson
Rangi Marino
💍 1920/8166

Bachelor
Spinster

Saw doctor
Domestic

43
42

Ohinemutu
Ohinemutu

22 years
42 years

Registrar's Office Rotorua

7962

5 July 1920

J. Mitchell, Registrar

No	35
Date of Notice	5 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Koa Macpherson	Rangi Marinus
BDM Match (92%)	John Koa Macpherson	Rangi Marino
	💍 1920/8166
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saw doctor	Domestic
Age	43	42
Dwelling Place	Ohinemutu	Ohinemutu
Length of Residence	22 years	42 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Rotorua
Folio	7962
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Mitchell, Registrar

9 July 1920

James Alfred Cropp
Annie Rust

James Alfred Cropp
Annie Rust
💍 1920/8167

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

24
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

4 days
4 days

Presbyterian Manse Rotorua

7963

9 July 1920

Rev. A. C. Randerson

No	36
Date of Notice	9 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Alfred Cropp	Annie Rust
	💍 1920/8167
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	24	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	4 days	4 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Manse Rotorua
Folio	7963
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. C. Randerson

13 July 1920

Harry Thomas Bird
Hetty Greenhead

Harry Thomas Bint
Hetty Greenhead
💍 1920/8168

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker
Shop assistant

39
38

Rotorua
Rotorua

8 months
4 months

St Luke's Church of England Rotorua

7964

13 July 1920

Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

No	37
Date of Notice	13 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Harry Thomas Bird	Hetty Greenhead
BDM Match (94%)	Harry Thomas Bint	Hetty Greenhead
	💍 1920/8168
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker	Shop assistant
Age	39	38
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	8 months	4 months
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England Rotorua
Folio	7964
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

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).