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 965

District of Rotorua Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar F. 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

6 August 1920

John Benjamin Davidge
Josephine Catherine Moore

John Benjamin Davidge
Josephine Catherine Moore
💍 1920/8175

Bachelor
Widow

Chef
Domestic Duties

42
36

Rotorua
Rotorua

6 weeks
6 weeks

Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

7970

6 August 1920

Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

No	43
Date of Notice	6 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Benjamin Davidge	Josephine Catherine Moore
	💍 1920/8175
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Chef	Domestic Duties
Age	42	36
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	6 weeks	6 weeks
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	7970
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean A. Lightheart

13 August 1920

Thomas Henry Bridge
Annie Hodgson

Thomas Henry Bridge
Annie Hodgson
💍 1920/8176

Bachelor
Widow

Painter
Waitress

31
32

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 1/2 years
3 1/2 years

St Luke's Anglican Church, Rotorua

7971

13 August 1920

Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

No	44
Date of Notice	13 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Henry Bridge	Annie Hodgson
	💍 1920/8176
Condition	Bachelor	Widow
Profession	Painter	Waitress
Age	31	32
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 1/2 years	3 1/2 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Anglican Church, Rotorua
Folio	7971
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

20 August 1920

Marriott Fergus Barrowman
Helen May Wilson

Marriott Fergus Barrowman
Helen May Wilson
💍 1920/8177

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway clerk
Domestic Duties

23
21

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 years
4 years

St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua

7972

20 August 1920

Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

No	45
Date of Notice	20 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Marriott Fergus Barrowman	Helen May Wilson
	💍 1920/8177
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway clerk	Domestic Duties
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Luke's Church of England, Rotorua
Folio	7972
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Canon F. W. Chatterton

23 August 1920

Isaac Walker
Mary Savage

Isaac Walker
Mary Savage
💍 1920/8178

Bachelor
Spinster

Storekeeper
Domestic Duties

29
24

Rotorua
Rotorua

3 days
3 days

Registrar's Office, Rotorua

7973

23 August 1920

F. Mitchell, Registrar

No	46
Date of Notice	23 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Isaac Walker	Mary Savage
	💍 1920/8178
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Storekeeper	Domestic Duties
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Rotorua
Folio	7973
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 August 1920
Officiating Minister	F. Mitchell, Registrar

27 August 1920

Albert Percy Smith
Elizabeth Lillias Margaret Mitchell

Albert Percy Smith
Elizabeth Lillias Margaret Mitchell
💍 1920/8179

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor driver
Typiste

20
20

Rotorua
Rotorua

20 years
4 years

St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua

7974

Albert Smith, father. Thomas Hope Mitchell, father.

27 August 1920

Rev. Dean Lightheart

No	47
Date of Notice	27 August 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Percy Smith	Elizabeth Lillias Margaret Mitchell
	💍 1920/8179
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor driver	Typiste
Age	20	20
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Rotorua
Length of Residence	20 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Rotorua
Folio	7974
Consent	Albert Smith, father. Thomas Hope Mitchell, father.
Date of Certificate	27 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Dean Lightheart

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).