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 1023

District of Te Aroha Quarter ending 31 December 1920 Registrar W. H. Diamond

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

18 October 1920

William Trotter Dickie
Mary Ann Young

William Trotter Dickson
Mary Ann Young
💍 1920/11557

Bachelor
Spinster

Painter

21
21

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

21 years
4 years

Presbyterian Church Te Aroha

10942

18 October 1920

J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	18 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Trotter Dickie	Mary Ann Young
BDM Match (94%)	William Trotter Dickson	Mary Ann Young
	💍 1920/11557
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Painter
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	21 years	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Te Aroha
Folio	10942
Consent
Date of Certificate	18 October 1920
Officiating Minister	J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

19 October 1920

Walter Joseph Gibbs
Lilian Stanley Denham

Walter Joseph Gibbs
Lilian Stanley Denham
💍 1920/12380

Divorced Decree absolute 27 July 1920
Spinster

Civil Engineer
Domestic duties

38
37

Te Aroha
Hamilton

3 years
3 days

Registrars office Hamilton

10791

19 October 1920

The Registrar, Hamilton

No	37
Date of Notice	19 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Walter Joseph Gibbs	Lilian Stanley Denham
	💍 1920/12380
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 27 July 1920	Spinster
Profession	Civil Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	38	37
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Hamilton
Length of Residence	3 years	3 days
Marriage Place	Registrars office Hamilton
Folio	10791
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1920
Officiating Minister	The Registrar, Hamilton

23 October 1920

William Edgar Dynes
Amelia Beatrice Hocking

William Edgar Dynes
Amelia Beatrice Hocking
💍 1920/11558

Bachelor
Spinster

Farm labourer
Domestic

23
18

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

2 months
2 months

Methodist Church Te Aroha

10943

6 November 1920

Rev. A. Hopper, Methodist

No	38
Date of Notice	23 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Edgar Dynes	Amelia Beatrice Hocking
	💍 1920/11558
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farm labourer	Domestic
Age	23	18
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	2 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Te Aroha
Folio	10943
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hopper, Methodist

27 October 1920

John Joseph Ryan
Kathleen Mary Brady

John Joseph Ryan
Kathleen Mary Brady
💍 1920/11559

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

34
26

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
6 years

Roman Catholic Church Te Aroha

10944

27 October 1920

Rev. Jas. McGuiness, Roman Catholic

No	39
Date of Notice	27 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Joseph Ryan	Kathleen Mary Brady
	💍 1920/11559
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	6 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church Te Aroha
Folio	10944
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. McGuiness, Roman Catholic

27 October 1920

Leonard Reginald Lindemann
Mabel Catherine Wight

Leonard Reginald Lindemann
Mabel Catharine Hight
💍 1920/11560

Bachelor
Spinster

Grocer
Domestic duties

22
22

Waitoa
Waitoa

3 days
3 days

Methodist Church Waitoa

10945

27 October 1920

Rev. A. Hopper, Methodist

No	40
Date of Notice	27 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Reginald Lindemann	Mabel Catherine Wight
BDM Match (95%)	Leonard Reginald Lindemann	Mabel Catharine Hight
	💍 1920/11560
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Grocer	Domestic duties
Age	22	22
Dwelling Place	Waitoa	Waitoa
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Waitoa
Folio	10945
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Hopper, 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).