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 1025

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

21 December 1920

Norman Edward Trainor
Florence Margaret Martin

Norman Edward Trainer
Florance Margaret Martin
💍 1920/11566

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Laundress

24
32

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

24 years
2 years

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

10950

21 December 1920

Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	46
Date of Notice	21 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Norman Edward Trainor	Florence Margaret Martin
BDM Match (96%)	Norman Edward Trainer	Florance Margaret Martin
	💍 1920/11566
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Laundress
Age	24	32
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	24 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	10950
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

21 December 1920

William Henry Parsonage
Althea Sarah Sharp

William Henry Parsonage
Althea Sarah Sharp
💍 1920/11567

Divorced Decree absolute 4th December, 1920
Spinster

Mill Foreman
Domestic

42
21

Te Aroha West
Te Aroha

15 months
12 months

Hazlewood House, Te Aroha

10951

21 December 1920

Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	47
Date of Notice	21 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Henry Parsonage	Althea Sarah Sharp
	💍 1920/11567
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 4th December, 1920	Spinster
Profession	Mill Foreman	Domestic
Age	42	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha West	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	15 months	12 months
Marriage Place	Hazlewood House, Te Aroha
Folio	10951
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

22 December 1920

William Thomas Richard Williams
Doris Elizabeth Bates

William Thomas Richard Williams
Doris Elizabeth Bates
💍 1921/2224

Bachelor
Spinster

Taxi proprietor
Domestic duties

25
21

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

18 months
8 years

Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha

22 December 1920

Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	48
Date of Notice	22 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Thomas Richard Williams	Doris Elizabeth Bates
	💍 1921/2224
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Taxi proprietor	Domestic duties
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	18 months	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Te Aroha
Folio	69
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

28 December 1920

Archibald Hill Rennie
Harriet Burke

Archibald Hill Rennie
Harriet Burke
💍 1920/11568

Bachelor
Spinster

Contractor
Waitress

25
25

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

3 days
3 days

Residence of Mr White, Burke Street, Te Aroha

10952

28 December 1920

Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

No	49
Date of Notice	28 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Hill Rennie	Harriet Burke
	💍 1920/11568
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Contractor	Waitress
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr White, Burke Street, Te Aroha
Folio	10952
Consent
Date of Certificate	28 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. A. Ryburn, Presbyterian

30 December 1920

Francis Thomas Halligan
Irene May Forrest

Francis Thomas Halligan
Ilene May Forrest
💍 1921/2288

Bachelor
Spinster

Clothier
Clerk

34
24

Te Aroha
Te Aroha

7 years
24 years

Church of England, Te Aroha

136

30 December 1920

Rev. R. L. Connolly, Anglican

No	50
Date of Notice	30 December 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis Thomas Halligan	Irene May Forrest
BDM Match (97%)	Francis Thomas Halligan	Ilene May Forrest
	💍 1921/2288
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clothier	Clerk
Age	34	24
Dwelling Place	Te Aroha	Te Aroha
Length of Residence	7 years	24 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Te Aroha
Folio	136
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 December 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. R. L. Connolly, Anglican

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).