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 1173

District of Whangarei Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar D. Pira

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

1 April 1920

Andrew Edward Thorburn
Dorothy Lillian Bowyer

Andrew Edward Thorburn
Dorothy Lillian Bowyer
💍 1920/1193

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic duties

19
20

Ruatangata
Kamo

3 weeks
2 weeks

Registrar's Office Whangarei

5044

John James Thorburn, Father; Henry Sydney Bowyer, Father

1 April 1920

D. Pira, Registrar

No	25
Date of Notice	1 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Andrew Edward Thorburn	Dorothy Lillian Bowyer
	💍 1920/1193
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic duties
Age	19	20
Dwelling Place	Ruatangata	Kamo
Length of Residence	3 weeks	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office Whangarei
Folio	5044
Consent	John James Thorburn, Father; Henry Sydney Bowyer, Father
Date of Certificate	1 April 1920
Officiating Minister	D. Pira, Registrar

8 April 1920

Francis George Ewen
Hazel Mary Connelly

Francis George Ewen
Hazel Mary Connelly
💍 1920/1195

Bachelor
Spinster

Builder
Domestic

33
21

Onerahi
Onerahi

25 years
10 years

Church of England Onerahi

5045

8 April 1920

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	26
Date of Notice	8 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Francis George Ewen	Hazel Mary Connelly
	💍 1920/1195
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Builder	Domestic
Age	33	21
Dwelling Place	Onerahi	Onerahi
Length of Residence	25 years	10 years
Marriage Place	Church of England Onerahi
Folio	5045
Consent
Date of Certificate	8 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

9 April 1920

James Robertson
Kate Weaver

James Robertson
Kate Weaver
💍 1920/1196

Bachelor
Spinster

Commercial Traveller
Domestic duties

33
31

Whangarei
Whangarei

7 days
31 years

Presbyterian Church, Whangarei

5046

9 April 1920

Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

No	27
Date of Notice	9 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Robertson	Kate Weaver
	💍 1920/1196
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Commercial Traveller	Domestic duties
Age	33	31
Dwelling Place	Whangarei	Whangarei
Length of Residence	7 days	31 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Whangarei
Folio	5046
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Lochore, Presbyterian

14 April 1920

Clement Arthur Suckling
Irene Isabel Purchas Bennett

Clement Arthur Suckling
Irene Isobel Parehau Bennett
💍 1920/5501

Bachelor
Spinster

Solicitor
Domestic

27
23

Whakatane
Whangarei

6 years
6 months

Christ Church Whangarei

3160

14 April 1920

Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

No	28
Date of Notice	14 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Clement Arthur Suckling	Irene Isabel Purchas Bennett
BDM Match (93%)	Clement Arthur Suckling	Irene Isobel Parehau Bennett
	💍 1920/5501
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Solicitor	Domestic
Age	27	23
Dwelling Place	Whakatane	Whangarei
Length of Residence	6 years	6 months
Marriage Place	Christ Church Whangarei
Folio	3160
Consent
Date of Certificate	14 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, Church of England

15 April 1920

Leonidas Elijah Cowley
Elsie Dagmar Pigott

Leonidas Elijah Cowley
Elsie Dagmar Pigott
💍 1920/1197

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic

21
20

Otaika
Otaika

4 months
7 months

Registrar's Office, Whangarei

5047

Inez Dagmar Pigott, mother

15 April 1920

D. Pira, Registrar

No	29
Date of Notice	15 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Leonidas Elijah Cowley	Elsie Dagmar Pigott
	💍 1920/1197
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic
Age	21	20
Dwelling Place	Otaika	Otaika
Length of Residence	4 months	7 months
Marriage Place	Registrar's Office, Whangarei
Folio	5047
Consent	Inez Dagmar Pigott, mother
Date of Certificate	15 April 1920
Officiating Minister	D. Pira, Registrar

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).