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 1057

District of Thames Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar H. R. Bush

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

8 January 1920

George Frederic Blackhall Fisher
Ivy Pearson

George Frederick Blackhall Fisher
Ivy Peanon
💍 1920/2539

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Dressmaker

36
22

Thames
Thames

36 years
22 years

Church of England, Thames

1083

8 January 1920

Rev. Beck

No	1
Date of Notice	8 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederic Blackhall Fisher	Ivy Pearson
BDM Match (89%)	George Frederick Blackhall Fisher	Ivy Peanon
	💍 1920/2539
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Dressmaker
Age	36	22
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	36 years	22 years
Marriage Place	Church of England, Thames
Folio	1083
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Beck

10 January 1920

Alexander McKinlay Laird
Gladys Dayline Mary Willetts

Alexander McKinlay Laird
Gladys Daphne May Willetts
💍 1920/2540

Bachelor
Spinster

Carrier
Waitress

32
24

Rotorua
Thames

4 days
24 years

Dwelling of William Willetts, Richmond St. Thames

1084

10 January 1920

J. Farquharson Jones

No	2
Date of Notice	10 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander McKinlay Laird	Gladys Dayline Mary Willetts
BDM Match (93%)	Alexander McKinlay Laird	Gladys Daphne May Willetts
	💍 1920/2540
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carrier	Waitress
Age	32	24
Dwelling Place	Rotorua	Thames
Length of Residence	4 days	24 years
Marriage Place	Dwelling of William Willetts, Richmond St. Thames
Folio	1084
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 January 1920
Officiating Minister	J. Farquharson Jones

21 January 1920

Edward Alfred Clark
Madge Fisher

Edward Alfred Clark
Madge Fisher
💍 1920/2517

Widower
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

28
19

Turua
Turua

4 years
7 months

Presbyterian Church Manse, Thames

1085

Amos Fisher

21 January 1920

Rev. Milne

No	3
Date of Notice	21 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alfred Clark	Madge Fisher
	💍 1920/2517
Condition	Widower	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	28	19
Dwelling Place	Turua	Turua
Length of Residence	4 years	7 months
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Manse, Thames
Folio	1085
Consent	Amos Fisher
Date of Certificate	21 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Milne

30 January 1920

William John Wilson
Helena Florence Jenkins

William John Wilson
Helena Florence Jenkin
💍 1920/2518

William John Wilson
Olive Marion Meredith
💍 1920/6662

Bachelor
Spinster

Fisherman
Domestic Duties

37
26

Thames
Thames

37 years
26 years

Wesleyan Church, Thames

1086

30 January 1920

Rev. A. Mitchell

No	4
Date of Notice	30 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William John Wilson	Helena Florence Jenkins
BDM Match (98%)	William John Wilson	Helena Florence Jenkin
	💍 1920/2518
BDM Match (61%)	William John Wilson	Olive Marion Meredith
	💍 1920/6662
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Fisherman	Domestic Duties
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	37 years	26 years
Marriage Place	Wesleyan Church, Thames
Folio	1086
Consent
Date of Certificate	30 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. Mitchell

31 January 1920

Robert Sydney Laurence
Margaret Brierly

Robert Sydney Lawrence
Margaret Brierly
💍 1920/2519

Divorced
Spinster

Indent Agent
Domestic Duties

40
40

Thames
Thames

3 days
3 days

G. Pearce's residence, Rolleston Street, Thames

1087

3 February 1920

Rev. Milne

No	5
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Robert Sydney Laurence	Margaret Brierly
BDM Match (98%)	Robert Sydney Lawrence	Margaret Brierly
	💍 1920/2519
Condition	Divorced	Spinster
Profession	Indent Agent	Domestic Duties
Age	40	40
Dwelling Place	Thames	Thames
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	G. Pearce's residence, Rolleston Street, Thames
Folio	1087
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Milne

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).