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 1035

District of Te Awamutu Quarter ending 31 December 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

2 October 1920

Enos John Walters
Myrtle Olive Victoria Watson

Enios John Walters
Myrtle Olive Victoria Watson
💍 1920/11569

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

27
19

Te Awamutu
Te Awamutu

14 years
3 years

Residence of Mr George Watson, Te Awamutu

10953

George Watson, Father

2 October 1920

Rev J A Thompson, Presbyterian

No	33
Date of Notice	2 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Enos John Walters	Myrtle Olive Victoria Watson
BDM Match (97%)	Enios John Walters	Myrtle Olive Victoria Watson
	💍 1920/11569
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	27	19
Dwelling Place	Te Awamutu	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	14 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr George Watson, Te Awamutu
Folio	10953
Consent	George Watson, Father
Date of Certificate	2 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Thompson, Presbyterian

5 October 1920

Eddie Hunter
Elsie Matilda Roigard

Eddie Hunter
Elsie Matilda Roigard
💍 1920/11601

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic

27
21

Pukeatua
Pukeatua

1 year
11 years

Registrar's Office, Te Awamutu

10954

5 October 1920

J T Williams, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

No	34
Date of Notice	5 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Eddie Hunter	Elsie Matilda Roigard
	💍 1920/11601
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic
Age	27	21
Dwelling Place	Pukeatua	Pukeatua
Length of Residence	1 year	11 years
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Te Awamutu
Folio	10954
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 October 1920
Officiating Minister	J T Williams, Deputy Registrar of Marriages

20 October 1920

William Percy Bailey
Edith Annie Pryce

William Percy Bailey
Edith Annie Pryce
💍 1920/11612

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Hospital Nurse

32
34

Warworth
Te Awamutu

3 days
2 weeks

St Johns Church, Te Awamutu

10955

20 October 1920

Rev Wm H Beck, Anglican

No	35
Date of Notice	20 October 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Percy Bailey	Edith Annie Pryce
	💍 1920/11612
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Hospital Nurse
Age	32	34
Dwelling Place	Warworth	Te Awamutu
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	St Johns Church, Te Awamutu
Folio	10955
Consent
Date of Certificate	20 October 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Wm H Beck, Anglican

1 November 1920

John McIntosh
Mary Evelyn Kurth

John McIntosh
Mary Evelyn Kurth
💍 1920/11619

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

24
20

Pukeatua
Pukeatua

4 years
11 years

Residence of Mr F A A Kurth, Pukeatua

10956

F A A Kurth, Father

1 November 1920

Rev J A Thompson, Presbyterian

No	36
Date of Notice	1 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McIntosh	Mary Evelyn Kurth
	💍 1920/11619
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	24	20
Dwelling Place	Pukeatua	Pukeatua
Length of Residence	4 years	11 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr F A A Kurth, Pukeatua
Folio	10956
Consent	F A A Kurth, Father
Date of Certificate	1 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev J A Thompson, Presbyterian

9 November 1920

James Ennion
Gladys Windsor

James Ennion
Gladys Windsor
💍 1920/11620

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Household duties

28
29

Manawaru
Ohaupo

1 year
4 weeks

Church of England, Ohaupo

10957

9 November 1920

Rev C W Turner, Anglican

No	37
Date of Notice	9 November 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Ennion	Gladys Windsor
	💍 1920/11620
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Household duties
Age	28	29
Dwelling Place	Manawaru	Ohaupo
Length of Residence	1 year	4 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Ohaupo
Folio	10957
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 November 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev C W Turner, 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).