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 1359

District of Stratford Quarter ending 30 June 1920 Registrar S. H. James

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

19 April 1920

Charles Roy Borchart
Elizabeth Ann Maud Blake

Charles Roy Borchart
Elizabeth Ann Maud Blake
💍 1920/1269

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

27
29

Ngaere
Ngaere

17 years
14 days

All Saints' Church, Eltham

5070

19 April 1920

Rev. J. G. Castle, Church of England

No	13
Date of Notice	19 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Roy Borchart	Elizabeth Ann Maud Blake
	💍 1920/1269
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	27	29
Dwelling Place	Ngaere	Ngaere
Length of Residence	17 years	14 days
Marriage Place	All Saints' Church, Eltham
Folio	5070
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. G. Castle, Church of England

24 April 1920

Joseph Patrick Baskey
Eleanor Violet Fincham

Joseph Patrick Caskey
Eleanor Violet Fincham
💍 1920/1389

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

31
28

Stratford
Stratford

20 years
28 years

Residence of G. Algie, Cloton road, Stratford

5191

24 April 1920

Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

No	14
Date of Notice	24 April 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Joseph Patrick Baskey	Eleanor Violet Fincham
BDM Match (98%)	Joseph Patrick Caskey	Eleanor Violet Fincham
	💍 1920/1389
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	28 years
Marriage Place	Residence of G. Algie, Cloton road, Stratford
Folio	5191
Consent
Date of Certificate	24 April 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. J. W. McKenzie, Presbyterian

1 May 1920

Philip Crago Clemoes
Dorothy Hine

Philip Crago Clemow
Dorothy Hine
💍 1920/1390

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer

26
25

Toko
Toko

3 months
25 years

The Church, Toko

5192

1 May 1920

Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	15
Date of Notice	1 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Philip Crago Clemoes	Dorothy Hine
BDM Match (95%)	Philip Crago Clemow	Dorothy Hine
	💍 1920/1390
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer
Age	26	25
Dwelling Place	Toko	Toko
Length of Residence	3 months	25 years
Marriage Place	The Church, Toko
Folio	5192
Consent
Date of Certificate	1 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

3 May 1920

Herbert Francis Sharpe
Muriel Olive Sanderson

Herbert Francis Sharpe
Muriel Olive Sanderson
💍 1920/1391

Bachelor
Spinster

Saddler
School teacher

25
21

Stratford
Stratford

3 days
11 years

Holy Trinity Church, Stratford

5193

3 May 1920

Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

No	16
Date of Notice	3 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Herbert Francis Sharpe	Muriel Olive Sanderson
	💍 1920/1391
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Saddler	School teacher
Age	25	21
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	3 days	11 years
Marriage Place	Holy Trinity Church, Stratford
Folio	5193
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. G. W. Howard, Church of England

4 May 1920

Thomas Theodore Waite
Ulla Thyrza Goodwin

Thomas Theodore Waite
Ulla Thyrzah Goodwin
💍 1920/1392

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer

20
18

Stratford
Stratford

20 years
18 years

Roman Catholic Church, Stratford

5194

Tom Waite father (of groom); Kate Isabel Goodwin mother (of bride)

4 May 1920

Rev. F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

No	17
Date of Notice	4 May 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Thomas Theodore Waite	Ulla Thyrza Goodwin
BDM Match (98%)	Thomas Theodore Waite	Ulla Thyrzah Goodwin
	💍 1920/1392
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer
Age	20	18
Dwelling Place	Stratford	Stratford
Length of Residence	20 years	18 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Stratford
Folio	5194
Consent	Tom Waite father (of groom); Kate Isabel Goodwin mother (of bride)
Date of Certificate	4 May 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. F. G. Maples, Roman Catholic

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).