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 1347

District of Patea Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar D. Ormsby

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

6 April 1920

Lonsdale Edgcumbe Elliott
Harriett Maud Locker

Lonsdale Edgecumbe Elliott
Harriet Maud Locker
💍 1920/1384

Bachelor
Spinster

Law Clerk
Domestic duties

35
35

Patea
Patea

2 days
35 years

Residence of Mr Henry Locker, Patea

5186

7 April 1920

Rev W. Watson, Methodist

No	6
Date of Notice	6 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Lonsdale Edgcumbe Elliott	Harriett Maud Locker
BDM Match (96%)	Lonsdale Edgecumbe Elliott	Harriet Maud Locker
	💍 1920/1384
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Law Clerk	Domestic duties
Age	35	35
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	2 days	35 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Henry Locker, Patea
Folio	5186
Consent
Date of Certificate	7 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. Watson, Methodist

22 May 1920

William James Bower
Ethel Sidney Darcy McKercher

William James Power
Ethel Sidney D'Arcy McKercher
💍 1920/1385

Bachelor
Spinster

Wheelwright
Schoolteacher

35
25

Palmerston North
Manutahi

3 days
25 years

Residence of Mr Alfred Morse, Manutahi

5187

22 May 1920

Rev W. H. Allan, Anglican

No	7
Date of Notice	22 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William James Bower	Ethel Sidney Darcy McKercher
BDM Match (94%)	William James Power	Ethel Sidney D'Arcy McKercher
	💍 1920/1385
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Wheelwright	Schoolteacher
Age	35	25
Dwelling Place	Palmerston North	Manutahi
Length of Residence	3 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Residence of Mr Alfred Morse, Manutahi
Folio	5187
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Allan, Anglican

1 June 1920

Arthur Walker Wishnowsky
Edith Matilda Schultz

Arthur Walter Wishnowsky
Edith Matilda Schultz
💍 1920/1386

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

25
20

Alton
Hurleyville

10 months
Since birth

Residence of Otto Henry Schultz, Hurleyville

5188

Otto Henry Schultz, father

1 June 1920

Rev Hamuera H. Te Punga, Lutheran

No	8
Date of Notice	1 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Arthur Walker Wishnowsky	Edith Matilda Schultz
BDM Match (98%)	Arthur Walter Wishnowsky	Edith Matilda Schultz
	💍 1920/1386
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	25	20
Dwelling Place	Alton	Hurleyville
Length of Residence	10 months	Since birth
Marriage Place	Residence of Otto Henry Schultz, Hurleyville
Folio	5188
Consent	Otto Henry Schultz, father
Date of Certificate	1 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Hamuera H. Te Punga, Lutheran

22 June 1920

Alexander Bowie
Teresa Mary Burke

Alexander Bowie
Teresa Mary Burke
💍 1920/1387

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

37
30

Hurleyville
Hurleyville

10 months
2 months

Roman Catholic Church, Egmont Street, Patea

5189

22 June 1920

Rev Edward Coffey, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	22 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Alexander Bowie	Teresa Mary Burke
	💍 1920/1387
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	37	30
Dwelling Place	Hurleyville	Hurleyville
Length of Residence	10 months	2 months
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Egmont Street, Patea
Folio	5189
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev Edward Coffey, Roman Catholic

22 June 1920

Charles Ernest Hosford
Caroline Ivanhoe Ayers

Charles Ernest Stanford
Caroline Ivanhoe Ayers
💍 1920/1388

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

26
22

Whenuakura
Whenuakura

5 years
6 years

St George's Anglican Church, Egmont Street, Patea

5190

22 June 1920

Rev W. H. Allan, Anglican

No	10
Date of Notice	22 June 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Ernest Hosford	Caroline Ivanhoe Ayers
BDM Match (91%)	Charles Ernest Stanford	Caroline Ivanhoe Ayers
	💍 1920/1388
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	26	22
Dwelling Place	Whenuakura	Whenuakura
Length of Residence	5 years	6 years
Marriage Place	St George's Anglican Church, Egmont Street, Patea
Folio	5190
Consent
Date of Certificate	22 June 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev W. H. Allan, 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).