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 999

District of Tauranga Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar Geo. G. Beswick

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

William Edgar Randell
Ivy Margaret Poad

William Edgar Randell
Ivy Margaret Poad
💍 1920/4593

Bachelor
Spinster

Motor carrier
Household duties

25
25

Tauranga
Tauranga

7 years
7 years

Presbyterian Church Tauranga

1044

6 January 1920

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	6 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edgar Randell	Ivy Margaret Poad
	💍 1920/4593
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Motor carrier	Household duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	7 years	7 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tauranga
Folio	1044
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

7 January 1920

Edward Bidois
Ateraira Edwards

Edward Bidois
Ateraira Edwards
💍 1920/4595

Bachelor
Spinster

Porter
Housemaid

19
17

Tauranga
Tauranga

19 years
1 year

Registrars Office Tauranga

1045

Alex Bidois Father; Tapae amoley Guardian

7 January 1920

J. G. Beswick, Registrar of Marriages, Tauranga

No	2
Date of Notice	7 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Bidois	Ateraira Edwards
	💍 1920/4595
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Porter	Housemaid
Age	19	17
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	19 years	1 year
Marriage Place	Registrars Office Tauranga
Folio	1045
Consent	Alex Bidois Father; Tapae amoley Guardian
Date of Certificate	7 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. G. Beswick, Registrar of Marriages, Tauranga

9 January 1920

Robert Hynds
Christina Margaret Alice Stewart

Robert Hynds
Christina Margaret Alice Stewart
💍 1920/4596

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Nurse

26
24

Tauranga
Tauranga

1 Month
1 Month

Holy Trinity Church Tauranga

1046

9 January 1920

Rev. C. L. Tuke, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	9 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Hynds	Christina Margaret Alice Stewart
	💍 1920/4596
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Nurse
Age	26	24
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	1 Month	1 Month
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church Tauranga
Folio	1046
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. L. Tuke, Anglican

22 January 1920

William Alfred Carleton Douglas
Alice Myrtle Boyd

William Alfred Carlton Douglas
Alice Myrtle Boyd
💍 1920/4597

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Domestic

30
18

Gate Pa Tauranga
Gate Pa Tauranga

9 Months
11 Months

Presbyterian Church Tauranga

1047

John Boyd Father

22 January 1920

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	4
Date of Notice	22 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alfred Carleton Douglas	Alice Myrtle Boyd
BDM Match (98%)	William Alfred Carlton Douglas	Alice Myrtle Boyd
	💍 1920/4597
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Domestic
Age	30	18
Dwelling Place	Gate Pa Tauranga	Gate Pa Tauranga
Length of Residence	9 Months	11 Months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tauranga
Folio	1047
Consent	John Boyd Father
Date of Certificate	22 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

31 January 1920

Robert Dougald Fisher
Myrtle Clarton Hunt

Robert Dougald Fisher
Myrtle Clarton Hunt
💍 1920/4598

Widower 5 June 1917
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

45
23

Tauranga
Tauranga

4 days
3 years

Presbyterian Church Tauranga

1048

31 January 1920

Rev. J. W. Smyth, Presbyterian

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Dougald Fisher	Myrtle Clarton Hunt
	💍 1920/4598
Condition	Widower 5 June 1917	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	45	23
Dwelling Place	Tauranga	Tauranga
Length of Residence	4 days	3 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Tauranga
Folio	1048
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. Smyth, 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).