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 1027

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar A. J. Johnston

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

5 January 1920

Leonard Wilfred Russell
Tilda Jane McCallum

Leonard Wilfred Russell
Tilda Jane McCallum
💍 1920/4684

Bachelor
Spinster

Fruit Farming
Domestic Duties

37
26

Paterangi
Paterangi

2 years
26 years

In the residence Mr Charles S. McCallum Paterangi

1060

5 January 1920

Rev. M. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	1
Date of Notice	5 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonard Wilfred Russell	Tilda Jane McCallum
	💍 1920/4684
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fruit Farming	Domestic Duties
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Paterangi	Paterangi
Length of Residence	2 years	26 years
Marriage Place	In the residence Mr Charles S. McCallum Paterangi
Folio	1060
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. M. McKenzie, Presbyterian

8 January 1920

Edward Alexander Wild Clarke
Eileen Myrtle Findlay

Edward Alexander Wild Clarke
Eileen Myrtle Findlay
💍 1920/4685

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Clerk

30
26

Mangapiko
Korakonui

10 years
4 years

St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu

1061

8 January 1920

Rev. G. A. Shaw, Presbyterian

No	2
Date of Notice	8 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alexander Wild Clarke	Eileen Myrtle Findlay
	💍 1920/4685
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Clerk
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Mangapiko	Korakonui
Length of Residence	10 years	4 years
Marriage Place	St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Te Awamutu
Folio	1061
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. A. Shaw, Presbyterian

10 January 1920

William Mountfort Retemeyer
Isabella Reynolds

William Mountfort Retemeyer
Isabell Reynolds
💍 1920/4686

Widower 14 January 1917
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic Duties

41
40

Pirongia
Pirongia

9 months
40 years

In the residence of Mr Meto Reynolds Pirongia

1062

10 January 1920

Rev. H. N. Wright, Anglican

No	3
Date of Notice	10 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Mountfort Retemeyer	Isabella Reynolds
BDM Match (97%)	William Mountfort Retemeyer	Isabell Reynolds
	💍 1920/4686
Condition	Widower 14 January 1917	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic Duties
Age	41	40
Dwelling Place	Pirongia	Pirongia
Length of Residence	9 months	40 years
Marriage Place	In the residence of Mr Meto Reynolds Pirongia
Folio	1062
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Anglican

12 January 1920

George Hay
Minnie Ashby

George Hay
Minnie Ashby
💍 1920/4687

Bachelor
Spinster

Mental Attendant
Nurse

36
39

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

9 months
35 years

Church of England Kihikihi

1063

12 January 1920

Rev. H. N. Wright, Anglican

No	4
Date of Notice	12 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Hay	Minnie Ashby
	💍 1920/4687
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Mental Attendant	Nurse
Age	36	39
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	9 months	35 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Kihikihi
Folio	1063
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. H. N. Wright, Anglican

15 January 1920

John Norman Taylor McKinder
Annie Frances Savage

John Norman Taylor McKinder
Annie Frances Savage
💍 1920/4688

Bachelor
Spinster

Railway Employee
Household duties

35
24

Kihikihi
Kihikihi

3 days
4 years

Sitting Room Alpha Hotel Kihikihi

1064

15 January 1920

Rev. C. Jansen, Roman Catholic

No	5
Date of Notice	15 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John Norman Taylor McKinder	Annie Frances Savage
	💍 1920/4688
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Railway Employee	Household duties
Age	35	24
Dwelling Place	Kihikihi	Kihikihi
Length of Residence	3 days	4 years
Marriage Place	Sitting Room Alpha Hotel Kihikihi
Folio	1064
Consent
Date of Certificate	15 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. C. Jansen, Roman Catholic

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).