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 1169

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar H. B. Rice

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

26 January 1920

David Patterson
Mabel Alexandria Sherlock

David Patterson
Mabel Alexandria Sherlock
💍 1920/2182

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic

21
18

Whangarei
Whangarei

2 months
1 month

Registrar's Office Whangarei

1142

George Sherlock (father)

26 January 1920

P. J. Norwood Deputy Registrar

No	11
Date of Notice	26 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Patterson	Mabel Alexandria Sherlock
	💍 1920/2182
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic
Age	21	18
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	2 months	1 month
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	1142
Consent	George Sherlock (father)
Date of Certificate	26 January 1920
Officiating Minister	P. J. Norwood Deputy Registrar

31 January 1920

Lionel Gregory Gill
Marguereta Evelyn Walsh

Lionel Gregory Gill
Margureta Evelyn Walsh
💍 1920/2183

Bachelor
Spinster

Clerk
Cadette Telegraph

27
22

Whangarei
Whangarei

6 years
2 years 10 months

St. Francis Xavier's Church Whangarei

1143

31 January 1920

Rev. Father J. Lanna Catholic

No	12
Date of Notice	31 January 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lionel Gregory Gill	Marguereta Evelyn Walsh
BDM Match (98%)	Lionel Gregory Gill	Margureta Evelyn Walsh
	💍 1920/2183
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Clerk	Cadette Telegraph
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	2 years 10 months
Marriage Place	St. Francis Xavier's Church Whangarei
Folio	1143
Consent
Date of Certificate	31 January 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Father J. Lanna Catholic

2 February 1920

Arthur Leslie Butler
Henrietta Alice Bufton Hutchings

Arthur Leslie Butler
Henrietta Alice Bufton Hutchings
💍 1920/2184

Bachelor
Spinster

Dairyman
Domestic

29
23

Whangarei
Whangarei

9 months
3 years

Methodist Church Whangarei

1144

2 February 1920

Rev. J. R. Clarke Methodist

No	13
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Leslie Butler	Henrietta Alice Bufton Hutchings
	💍 1920/2184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Dairyman	Domestic
Age	29	23
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	9 months	3 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church Whangarei
Folio	1144
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. R. Clarke Methodist

2 February 1920

Anthony Stewart Leslie Pagan
Grace Miriam Stirling

Anthony Stewart Leslie Fagan
Grace Miriam Stirling
💍 1920/2185

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Domestic

37
26

Onerahi
Whangarei

25 years
2 years

Church of England Whangarei

1145

2 February 1920

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank Church of England

No	14
Date of Notice	2 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Anthony Stewart Leslie Pagan	Grace Miriam Stirling
BDM Match (98%)	Anthony Stewart Leslie Fagan	Grace Miriam Stirling
	💍 1920/2185
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Domestic
Age	37	26
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Whangarei
Length of Residence	25 years	2 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Whangarei
Folio	1145
Consent
Date of Certificate	2 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank Church of England

3 February 1920

James Harmon Craig
Lethe Letisia Whiting

James Varmon Craig
Lettie Letisia Whiting
💍 1920/2187

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

33
37

Waikaraka
Waikaraka

4 years
3 years

Residence of J. C. Craig Parua Bay Ridge Rd Whangarei

1146

3 February 1920

Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Harmon Craig	Lethe Letisia Whiting
BDM Match (93%)	James Varmon Craig	Lettie Letisia Whiting
	💍 1920/2187
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	33	37
Dwelling Place	Waikaraka	Waikaraka
Length of Residence	4 years	3 years
Marriage Place	Residence of J. C. Craig Parua Bay Ridge Rd Whangarei
Folio	1146
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore Presbyterian

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).