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 1349

District of Patea Quarter ending 30 September 1920 Registrar G. 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

5 July 1920

Archibald Stewart Lamb
Joy Mabel Derrett

Archibald Stewart Lamb
Ivy Mabel Derrett
💍 1920/8432

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

23
26

Patea
Patea

3 days
26 years

St Georges Anglican Church Patea

8197

5 July 1920

Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

No	11
Date of Notice	5 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Archibald Stewart Lamb	Joy Mabel Derrett
BDM Match (94%)	Archibald Stewart Lamb	Ivy Mabel Derrett
	💍 1920/8432
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	23	26
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	3 days	26 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church Patea
Folio	8197
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

6 July 1920

George Francis Armstrong
Isabel Kathleen Cooke

George Francis Armstrong
Isabel Kathleen Coote
💍 1920/8433

Widower (20 December 1918)
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

30
26

Alton
Alton

since birth
6 years

St Georges Anglican Church Patea

8198

6 July 1920

Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

No	12
Date of Notice	6 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Francis Armstrong	Isabel Kathleen Cooke
BDM Match (98%)	George Francis Armstrong	Isabel Kathleen Coote
	💍 1920/8433
Condition	Widower (20 December 1918)	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	30	26
Dwelling Place	Alton	Alton
Length of Residence	since birth	6 years
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church Patea
Folio	8198
Consent
Date of Certificate	6 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

19 July 1920

James Henry Wilkinson
Henrietta Jane Mitchell

James Henry Wilkinson
Henrietta Jane Mitchell
💍 1920/8434

Bachelor
Spinster

Cheesemaker
Domestic duties

35
29

Patea
Patea

4 days
16 years

Presbyterian Church Patea

8199

19 July 1920

Rev. A. H. Scrimgeour, Presbyterian

No	13
Date of Notice	19 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	James Henry Wilkinson	Henrietta Jane Mitchell
	💍 1920/8434
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Cheesemaker	Domestic duties
Age	35	29
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	4 days	16 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Patea
Folio	8199
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Scrimgeour, Presbyterian

21 July 1920

Sidney John Walker Smith
Mildred Kathleen Carter

Sidney John Walter Smith
Mildred Kathleen Carter
💍 1920/8435

Bachelor
Spinster

Engineer
Secretary

27
20

Patea
Patea

3 months
1 day

St Georges Anglican Church Patea

8200

Para 27 after declaration duly made.

6 August 1920

Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

No	14
Date of Notice	21 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Sidney John Walker Smith	Mildred Kathleen Carter
BDM Match (98%)	Sidney John Walter Smith	Mildred Kathleen Carter
	💍 1920/8435
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engineer	Secretary
Age	27	20
Dwelling Place	Patea	Patea
Length of Residence	3 months	1 day
Marriage Place	St Georges Anglican Church Patea
Folio	8200
Consent	Para 27 after declaration duly made.
Date of Certificate	6 August 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. W. F. Allan, Anglican

24 July 1920

Donald John McLean
Nellie Smallman

Donald John McLean
Nellie Smallman
💍 1920/8350

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Hospital nurse

29
33

Matukuroa
Matukuroa

6 years
7 days

Presbyterian Church Patea

8261

24 July 1920

Rev. A. H. Scrimgeour, Presbyterian

No	15
Date of Notice	24 July 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Donald John McLean	Nellie Smallman
	💍 1920/8350
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Hospital nurse
Age	29	33
Dwelling Place	Matukuroa	Matukuroa
Length of Residence	6 years	7 days
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Patea
Folio	8261
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 July 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. A. H. Scrimgeour, 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).